North Carolina House of Representatives District 4 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in North Carolina, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 4 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 4

Incumbent James Dixon defeated Wesley Boykin in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 4 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Dixon (R)	66.6	16,449
		Wesley Boykin (D)	33.4	8,256

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,705
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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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.

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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?

Wesley Boykin (D)

Enhance services for children, families and the elderly: Implementing a comprehensive Jobs Plan, Health Plan and a Senior Services Plan in Duplin and Wayne counties would be an important step towards building more wholesome communities and a more robust commercial stream of revenue for local public services.

Establish a meaningful local business and hiring growth initiative which gives locally based businesses automatic scoring advantages in bidding for public contracts or subcontractors in the overall bid and local hiring requirements in tax funded developments.

Ensure that agricultural businesses thrive and provide safe employee and community-centered work environments.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Wesley Boykin (D)

• Community Development

• Poverty/Lack of Economic Opportunity • Agribusiness • Education/Lack of strong relevant public schools • Healthcare/Public Health

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

Wesley Boykin (D)

An elected official must have integrity and be committed to an uncompromising application of a wholesome value system. Integrity requires commitment to doing what is right at all times, even when no one is watching. This uncompromising application of the complete core value system is the foundation of good policymaking. Without integrity, the legislative value system will not prevail, and communities will divide.

A political leader should be capable of working collaboratively with others, without desire for personal power and authority. Collaboration diminishes or eliminates obstacles that prevent the elected body from achieving goals. The elected official should commit to effective teamwork and productive interaction with all stakeholders to make decisions in the best interest the State.

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

Wesley Boykin (D)

Loyalty - I am committed to achieving high quality performance by supporting and being dedicated to meeting the needs of my family, community and constituents.

Empowerment - I encourage others to act, and to act courageously with knowledge in decision-making to maximize opportunities to better serve everyone.

Integrity - I am committed to doing what is right and being honest in word and deed, while expecting the same from those around me.

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

Wesley Boykin (D)

• My first paying job was as a farm worker in the bean fields of Duplin County, NC. I was only 7 years old when my siblings and I would get up very early in the mornings to prepare for work. At daybreak, we would be onsite and ready to begin a full 10-hour day at labor, not including the ride to and from home. I never saw what we were doing as work. It was fun and I just loved working alongside my older brothers and sisters. My younger brother and sister could not work so I really enjoy that elite status over them. My second oldest sister was the boss. We didn’t dare disobey her because she gave a full accounting to our Mother once we arrived home. I picked beans throughout the late Spring and early summer each year of my youth until I was old enough to join “tobacco season” season began.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Wesley Boykin (D)

I believe it is of extreme importance to build positive relationships with all legislators. This is necessary to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas between of one’s own party and with members of other parties. I firmly believe that by working together as a team, we are much stronger as community, state and nation.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Wesley Boykin (D)

I believe the alignment of legislative districts with the most recent census data is a sound and fair method of determining the number of districts within a state. However, the party rule format is flawed and only serves to facilitate power-brokering for that party. This process is divisive, self-serving and is not in the best interest of all citizens, especially minority groups within a state. A much better process would require district maps to be drawn by a non-partisan select group of citizens with various expertise and commitment to a fair democracy for all.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Wesley Boykin (D)

I have no favorite joke. I simply love laughter and smiling. I try my best to end every serious conversation or life event with laughter. I am a practitioner of laughter yoga.

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

Wesley Boykin (D)

I believe compromise is a necessary step in the legislative process of a widely divided body. Compromise is even desirable if the process minimizes the divide and builds a stronger more positive, elected body of public officials, working to achieve a better, unified democracy.

See also

More about these elections:

• North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2022

Select a district below to read responses from candidates in those races:

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