Josh McConkey

Josh McConkey (Republican Party) is running for election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina. He declared candidacy for the 2028 election.^[source]

Biography

Josh McConkey's professional experience includes working as a physician. McConkey has served in the U.S. Army National Guard and U.S. Air Force Reserves. He earned a bachelor's degree from Chadron State College in 2000 and an M.D. from the University of Nebraska - College of Medicine in 2003.^[1]

Elections

2028

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 7, 2028.

General election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Josh McConkey is running in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina on November 7, 2028.

		Candidate
		Josh McConkey (R)

	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Endorsements

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2024

North Carolina's 13th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)

North Carolina's 13th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

Brad Knott defeated Frank Pierce in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 13 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Brad Knott (R)	58.6	243,655
	Frank Pierce (D)	41.4	171,835

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 415,490
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Josh Anderson (Independent)

Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

Brad Knott defeated Kelly Daughtry (Unofficially withdrew) in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House North Carolina District 13 on May 14, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Brad Knott	90.8	19,632
	Kelly Daughtry (Unofficially withdrew)	9.2	1,998

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,630
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Frank Pierce advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 13.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Wiley Nickel (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 13 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kelly Daughtry	27.4	22,978
✔		Brad Knott	18.7	15,664
		Fred Von Canon	17.1	14,344
		DeVan Barbour IV	15.4	12,892
		Josh McConkey	7.1	5,926
		Kenny Xu	4.3	3,604
		David Dixon	2.6	2,146
		Matt Shoemaker	2.4	2,003
		Chris Baker	1.3	1,089
		Eric Stevenson	1.0	844
		Marcus Dellinger	1.0	798
		Sid Sharma	0.7	614
	Submit photo	James Phillips	0.7	565
		Steve Von Loor	0.5	427

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,894
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Erin Paré (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for McConkey in this election.

Campaign themes

2028

Ballotpedia survey responses

Josh McConkey has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2028 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Josh McConkey asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Josh McConkey, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2028 Candidate Connection survey.

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You can ask Josh McConkey to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing pr@joshmcconkey.com.

2024

Josh McConkey completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McConkey's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Josh McConkey is a board-certified emergency physician and a reserve commander (Colonel) in the US Air Force. He is an Army Combat veteran of the Iraq War and is author of the book, "Be the Weight Behind the Spear", set for release in the Summer of 2023. He is a father, husband, physician, and a business owner who is concerned about the future of our country and he is setting aside his professional and military career to get America back on track. He is not a career politician. His leadership ethos, "Be the Weight Behind the Spear", is a call to action for all Americans to focus on developing our future heroes and leaders to ensure the freedoms, liberty, and success for generations of Americans to come!

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?

The government overreach during our COVID epidemic violated all tenets of patient autonomy in healthcare. No government has a right to dictate what chemical gets injected into your body.
As an emergency physician, I see the horrible death and destruction caused by the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis. We must do more to stop this surge! It is the leading cause of death in young Americans. We must stem the tide and secure our borders!
With 20 years of military service to our nation and as a military commander, I am concerned about Congress's lack of attention to the security threats against our nation. Congress's inability to approve budgets on time and to properly fund our military is unacceptable and it theatens the safety of our country.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The public policies that I am most passionate about are:

1. Healthcare- as an emergency physician with over 20 years of experience caring for Americans in the trenches of the ER, I have served as the safety net for America's crumbling healthcare system. Government intervention/socialized medicine does not work and it will further deteriorate our ability to care for patients.

2. Education- as a prior assistant Professor at Duke University, I understand the importance of education for all North Carolinians. My wife and mother are teachers and they have the most difficult job of educating our future leaders. We must increase the pay for teachers in North Carolina!

3. National Defense/National Security- the refusal to secure our national borders is cripling our society and killing our young people. Securing our borders is paramount to providing National Security. The opioid crisis is just one example of how failure to secure our border has lead to our leading cause of death in Americans aged 18-45!

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

My parents taught me the importance of honesty, hard work, and maintaining your integrity. I try to emulate Richard Winters, a decorated WWII officer that led Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the "Band of Brothers" from the HBO miniseries. He led from the front and was an exceptional American leader and true American hero!

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Integrity and accountability are central to my identity. I turned down a $3.4 million dollar bribe from a corrupt CEO to withdraw complaints of his unethical and what I believed to be illegal business practices, costing me millions of dollars. It was worth every penny. I will not compromise my integrity for one penny. I lead from the front, and I solve problems. I take ownership of problems and I treat people with dignity and respect. We are all on the same team- TEAM AMERICA!

What legacy would you like to leave?

Simply, I will leave America in a better position to be successful than it is currently.

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

I vividly remember the 1986 Challenger explosion. President Reagan's speech is the first speech I remember. I was 9 years old.

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

As a child of working blue-collar parents, my first jobs were in the fast-food industry. After that I worked as a maintenance man in a rural hospital to help put myself through college. I was the first McConkey in my father's entire family to attend college.

What is your favorite book? Why?

My favorite book read recently is Jim Mattis', "Call Sign Chaos". It is a tremendous book on leadership and the importance of being a well-read disciple of studying history.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I struggle every day to learn how to be a better person, leader, father, and Christian.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Our greatest challenge will the National Security threats posed by China, as they continue to aggressively gain influence on the world economy. The very foundations of our democracy are being threatened and it is critical that we come together as a nation to fight this threat.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

-Abraham Lincoln

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Term limits are critical to draining the swamp that permeates our federal government. There is too much power ceded to special interest groups and lobbyists.

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

McConkey’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Economy
As a family of five my wife and I know what it means to live within our means, and we should expect our government to do the same. With the price of groceries and gas on the rise families in North Carolina are struggling to make ends meet. As your Congressman, I will support fiscal discipline, sound monetary policies, and tax reform.

These policies will help to stimulate the economy, which will lead to economic growth and job creation. In addition to stimulating the economy, we also need to restore America’s energy independence. We should encourage the production and competition of domestic energy sources to help bring down the cost of gas and heating our homes.

National Security
As a US Air Force Reserve Colonel, one of my top priorities is national security. It is critical we have a well-funded military with the most advanced technologies in the world, and pray we never have to deploy them, but stand ready if we do.

The Constitution is clear about the role of the federal government over national defense and our military. Over the years I have watched as warfare has changed. In congress, I will vote to continue to fund our military advancements including cybersecurity and foreign information gathering. I will also support the continued construction of our southern border and advanced technologies to keep the border secure.

Opioid Crisis
The opioid crisis has become a devastating public health issue in the United States, and as an emergency room physician, I have seen its devastating effects first hand. Opioids and other drugs are pouring over our southern border, which is one of many reasons why we need to prioritize securing the border.

When I am in Congress, I will support policies that educate and prevent the use of addictive drugs and recovery programs for those individuals who are already struggling with an addiction. We also need to increase funding and research for alternative medicine and help families who have been negatively impacted by this endemic.^[2]

”

—Josh McConkey’s campaign website (2024)^[3]

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Josh McConkey campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House North Carolina District 13	Lost primary	$601,739	$587,719
Grand total			$601,739	$587,719
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

External links

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Candidate

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 2, 2023
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ McConkey, U.S. Congress, “Priorities,” accessed January 23, 2024

[bio-1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 2, 2023

[quotedisclaimer-2] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[3] McConkey, U.S. Congress, “Priorities,” accessed January 23, 2024

[1]

[2]

[3]

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Josh McConkey

Contents

Biography

Elections

2028

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Endorsements

2024

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

Democratic primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 13

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2028

Ballotpedia survey responses

2024

Campaign website

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

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