Allen Thomas Jr.

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Allen Thomas Jr.

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 3, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Pinehurst, N.C.

Religion

Christian

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Allen Thomas Jr. (Democratic Party) ran for election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2020.

Thomas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Thomas was a 2012 Democratic candidate for District 21 of the North Carolina State Senate.

Biography

Allen Thomas Jr. was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina. He graduated from East Carolina University in 2009, and from Liberty University in 2012. Thomas was elected to the Hoke County Board of Commissioners in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. He has been affiliated with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Elections

2020

Note: Van Duyn announced March 10 she would not request a Democratic primary runoff, making Lewis Holley the Democratic nominee.

See also: North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2020

North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Mark K. Robinson defeated Yvonne Lewis Holley in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark K. Robinson (R)	51.6	2,800,656
		Yvonne Lewis Holley (D)	48.4	2,623,458

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,424,114
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Yvonne Lewis Holley	26.6	309,274
		Terry Van Duyn	20.4	237,885
		Chaz Beasley	18.9	219,503
		Allen Thomas Jr.	18.8	219,229
		Bill Toole	9.6	111,843
	Submit photo	Ronald L. Newton	5.7	65,970

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,163,704
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark K. Robinson	32.5	240,843
		Andy Wells	14.6	107,824
		Mark Johnson	12.0	89,200
	Submit photo	John Ritter	11.5	85,023
		Renee Ellmers	6.8	50,526
		Greg Gebhardt	6.8	50,474
		Deborah Cochran	6.5	48,234
		Scott Stone	6.5	48,193
	Submit photo	Buddy Bengel	2.8	20,395

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 740,712
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2012

See also: North Carolina State Senate elections, 2012

Thomas ran in the 2012 election for North Carolina State Senate District 21. He was eliminated in the Democratic primary on May 8.

North Carolina State Senate District 21 Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Billy R. King (advanced to runoff)	24.5%	4,353
Robert B. Clark III (advanced to runoff)	19.8%	3,525
Larry Shaw	19.8%	3,523
Curtis Worthy	19%	3,385
Allen Thomas, Jr.	14%	2,489
Eronomy Smith	2.9%	523
Total Votes		17,798

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Allen Thomas Jr. completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Thomas' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Allen Thomas has developed a reputation of being a tough fighter for education, working class families, paying workers a living wage, and criminal justice reform. Allen developed his tough yet caring personality as a child, growing up in a one-bedroom apartment with his mom, dad, and sister. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father battled drug addiction while working odd jobs to provide for his family. When his parents divorced, his mother took on a second job as a cashier at a local grocery store to make ends meet for the family. His mother's sacrifice fuels his desire to raise teacher pay to the national average in North Carolina. Allen made history as the youngest County Commissioner ever elected in Hoke County when he was elected to the Hoke County Board of Commissioners in 2014. He was also re-elected in 2018 for a four-year term.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Ending Poverty
• Fully Funding Schools
• Raising the Minimum Wage

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Medicaid Expansion

Raising Teacher Pay
Raising Minimum Wage to a Living Wage
Worker's Rights
Criminal Justice Reform
Environmental Protection and Disaster Relief

Social Service Transformation

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my late mother, Linda Shaw-Thomas. She was a 3rd grade teacher who worked a second job bagging groceries to make ends meet for my younger sister and I. She always had a great outlook on life and she was the life of the party. As a young teenager, I went to school with her as she pursued her Masters Degree. She worked hard and led by example. She was the first person in her family to graduate from college.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

9/11 happened when I was in the 9th grade. I live in a military town and I comforted the children of service members as we watched the second plane hit the tower on live tv. I will never forget that moment. We were in band class.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I was a cook at Wendy's. I worked there for two years making minimum wage.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

“	PLATFORM Ending Poverty With 1 in 5 children living in poverty in this state, Commissioner Thomas has aggressively made ending poverty his cornerstone issue. Much needed resources are spent treating the symptoms of poverty, but now it’s time to fight the main issue head on. Commissioner Thomas supports: Fully funding schools by any means necessary. This initiative supports increasing teacher pay while also providing increased pay and resources to support staff ie bus drivers, teacher assistants, social workers etc. Commissioner Thomas also supports offering teachers an additional supplement to tutor at schools with poor academic performance. These schools, students and teachers need extra support, not criticism. No-cost after school care will encourage parents to give their children more resources to be academically successful. Raising Minimum Wage. North Carolina has one of the lowest minimum wages in the country. The way we treat the least among us really tells the story of who we are as a state. People should be able to work hard and make a decent living. After 10 years, it is past time to raise the minimum wage. Commissioner Thomas also supports giving municipalities the ability to place a minimum wage referendum on the ballot for voters to approve. The cost of living varies drastically across our state. With this plan, voters will be able to approve minimum wage increases for private businesses that operate in their communities. Foundation up Economics. This economic development plan is the opposite of trickle down economics. Commissioner Thomas believes that it is wrong to have one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the country while also having high poverty rates, low per pupils spending in education, and less than average teacher pay. Commissioner Thomas believes that big corporations should earn their way to paying a lower rate. Does your company provide student loan repayment programs? Do you offer parental leave? Do your lowest paid workers receive a living wage? Only those corporations who meet the needs of their employees should be rewarded. It is wrong to put requirements on food stamp and Medicaid recipients while giving billions of dollars in corporate welfare to wealthy corporations across the board. Criminal Justice Reform. We need an updated statewide standard as we move towards a cashless bail system for non-violent offenders. Place a referendum on the ballot and let voters decide if medical and/or recreational marijuana should be legal in this state or not. Send people who abuse drugs and mentally ill inmates to treatment centers not jails. Create a state of the art, fully funded reentry program that focuses on reducing recidivism. Social Services. End the waiting list for daycare assistance by fully funding the program. Transform the child support system so that children are financially supported every month. Universal child support will not take away the incentive to pay. It will simply make it a budget priority for the state to insure that children are supported while back child support is collected. The state should recognize the benefits of keeping children out of poverty. Environment “Allen Thomas believes that it is our sacred responsibility to take care of our planet. He opposes fracking, offshore drilling, and the deregulation of environmental standards and protections. Hoke County is home to the 1st (out of only 2 in the state) net zero energy rated K-12 school in NC. Sandy Grove Middle School uses solar panels to create more energy than it needs to operate. The excess electricity is then sold to Duke Energy at above market rate prices. The funds from this agreement are re-invested into our youth. Commissioner Thomas supports increased tax credits to make these types of government buildings common in NC. Renewable energy must be a priority.”	”
—Allen Thomas Jr. 2020 campaign website

See also

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

Coronavirus Weekly Updates Documenting America's Path to Recovery The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
• Allen Thomas on Facebook
• Allen Thomas on Twitter