Kenny Xu

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

Kenny Xu

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Davidson College, 2019

Personal

Birthplace

Maryland

Religion

Christian

Profession

Author

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Kenny Xu (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 13th Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on March 5, 2024.

Xu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kenny Xu was born in Maryland and lives in North Carolina. Xu earned a bachelor's degree in math from Davidson College. Xu's career experience includes publishing two books and working in journalism.

Elections

2024

See also: North Carolina's 13th Congressional District election, 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

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	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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates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

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,630
= 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

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

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,894
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Erin Paré (R)

Endorsements

Xu received the following endorsements.

• State Rep. Ken Fontenot (R)
• Frmr. Gov. James G. Martin

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kenny Xu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Xu's 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.

I was born in Maryland and raised in Richmond, VA to legal Chinese immigrant parents. I grew up Christian and evangelized to my friends, going as far as to convert some of them. I attended Davidson College where I eventually graduated with a Mathematics degree. I also founded the universities chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), a conservatism youth activism organization, after being met with a wave of progressive woke-ism at the institution. I also served as a Student Leader at Reformed University Fellowship, a Christian organization on campus, and on the E-Board of College Republicans. After graduating I founded a non-profit called Color Us United which advocates for a race-blind, merit-based culture in America. Most notably, we have pressured Salvation Army into rescinding the D.E.I trainings they were forcing onto employees and we have exposed American Express for offering incentives for racially-outlined hiring quotas. I was the leading activist in the Supreme Court cases against Harvard and UNC regarding their racially-biased admissions practices, having jumped onto the case 4 years into the 8 year effort, then helping spearhead the effort to TAKE DOWN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. I've also authored two best-sellers, "An Inconvenient Minority" and "School of Woke." I now enter politics to take my mission of anti-CRT and anti-DEI, as well as other issues, to the national level, and create further change for a conservative America.

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?

• Anti-CRT/Anti-DEI. Critical Race Theory and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion policies are some of the most destructive cultural factors in America today. These ideologies must be eradicated from schools and businesses in entirety, and replaced with merit-based approaches.
• Close the border. With no excuses, ifs, buts or wiggle room, we must: End privileges for illegals (healthcare, housing, education, etc), deport them, and build the wall to close the southern border once and for all.
• Economy. We are in horrendous debt and deficit, and while the culture war is paramount, we cannot ignore this. We must take measures to restore the purchasing power of the American dollar by stopping inflation and reducing mortgage rates.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

See key messages.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Drive and honesty.

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

Honesty, integrity, existing record of accomplishment, unrelenting drive for what is right.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

It can certainly help, but we must remain vigilant against corrupt lawyers and deep state aspirators who would fulfil the derogating phrase of "career politician"

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

Our biggest challenge will come from within: The culture war. There is an encroaching wave of radically progressive, self-hating thought that is corroding the minds of the next generation, and we cannot afford to ignore this looming disaster. We must bring back God, family values, and merit to our culture and teach our children to continue the traditional values that have created the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes. It gives representatives sufficient time to present themselves in a freshman term, and then voters may decide whether they wish to retain them. It also serves as a solid revolving door to ensure that fresh ideas are regularly rotated in and stale ones rotated out. Well, in districts that aren't held hostage with PAC money, that is.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

There are a number of admirable representatives throughout our past and present that serve as conservative role models. That being said, rather than fashion myself as the "2.0" to anyone else, I wish to make my mark as the first Kenny Xu.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Yes. This is not to say that we must give up ground on our conservative ideals, but the ability to interact with everyone as humans, whether you agree or disagree, is necessary, and we have unfortunately entered a period of brutal ideologic tribalism in congress where people are unable to share narrative and compromise.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

As of the submission of this survey, we have been endorsed by James G. Martin (Former NC Governor), Ken Fontenot (NC House District 24), and Kirk D. Smith (Lee County Commissioner)

What committees interest you?

I would have a particular passion to be on the Education and Labor committees.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

These are things that have gone unchecked for far too long. As your Congressman, I will support an unrelenting audit of every government agency, down to the last dollar.

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

Xu’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Kenny is a powerful voice for conservatives. Find out what he will do in Congress for you: Ending CRT division in schools Kenny believes that education is the key to accomplishing great things. Sadly, the Left is promoting division and victimhood instead. Kenny will advocate for high standards for all in schools and will support school choice. Zeroing out DEI in the federal government Kenny will take his successes fighting DEI at UNC Medical School to the national level. He will end all federal grants and initiatives that support dividing people by race. Standing for small business Kenny knows how much hard work small business is because he owns one (Color Us United). He will help pass policies that enhance the growth of our small business community. Strengthening our border Kenny knows that our border is deeply at risk. He will push for policies that secure our border so that America remains a safe and compassionate country for all.	”
—Kenny Xu’s campaign website (2024)

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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Kenny Xu campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House North Carolina District 13	Lost primary	$171,523	$171,523
Grand total			$171,523	$171,523
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

See also

2024 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

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External links

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Candidate

U.S. House North Carolina District 13

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Footnotes

[show]

North Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ted Budd (R)

Thom Tillis (R)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Davis (D)

District 2

Deborah Ross (D)

District 3

Gregory Murphy (R)

District 4

Valerie Foushee (D)

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R)

District 6

Addison McDowell (R)

District 7

David Rouzer (R)

District 8

Mark Harris (R)

District 9

Richard Hudson (R)

District 10

Pat Harrigan (R)

District 11

Chuck Edwards (R)

District 12

Alma Adams (D)

District 13

Brad Knott (R)

District 14

Timothy Moore (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (4)