Sam Hershey
2022 - Present
2028
2
Sam Hershey is a member of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, representing District 6. He assumed office on December 6, 2022. His current term ends in 2028.
Hershey ran for re-election to the Wake County Public School System to represent District 6 in North Carolina. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Sam Hershey earned a bachelor's degree from NC State University in 1999 and a graduate degree from the Queens University of Charlotte in 2017. Hershey's career experience includes working as an entrepreneur with Evim Solutions, as a high school softball and wrestling coach, and as an executive coach.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Wake County Public School System, District 6
Incumbent Sam Hershey defeated Josh Points in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 6 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sam Hershey (Nonpartisan) | 69.4 | 39,865 |
 | Josh Points (Nonpartisan)  | 29.8 | 17,104 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 495 | ||
| Total votes: 57,464 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hershey in this election.
2022
See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Wake County Public School System, District 6
Sam Hershey defeated Chad Stall, Patrice Nealon, Mary-Lewis Freeman, and Dajma Livingston in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 6 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sam Hershey (Nonpartisan) | 48.5 | 21,185 |
 | Chad Stall (Nonpartisan) | 16.7 | 7,294 | |
 | Patrice Nealon (Nonpartisan) | 16.3 | 7,140 | |
| Mary-Lewis Freeman (Nonpartisan) | 9.9 | 4,318 | ||
 | Dajma Livingston (Nonpartisan) | 8.1 | 3,527 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 213 | ||
| Total votes: 43,677 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Hershey's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
2019
See also: City elections in Raleigh, North Carolina (2019)
General election
General election for Raleigh City Council District A
Patrick Buffkin defeated Sam Hershey and Joshua Bradley in the general election for Raleigh City Council District A on October 8, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Patrick Buffkin (Nonpartisan) | 52.6 | 6,236 |
| Sam Hershey (Nonpartisan) | 36.4 | 4,308 | |
 | Joshua Bradley (Nonpartisan) | 10.4 | 1,236 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 65 | ||
| Total votes: 11,845 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sam Hershey did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Sam Hershey completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hershey's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Three reasons our current school board representative, Christine Kushner, asked me to run for her seat:
One: My commitment to our public schools. I’m the only candidate here today that has worked for the Wake County Public Schools System, has a kid in Wake County Public Schools and serves on the PTA. I have been active in Wake County Public Schools for the last 18 years.
Two: My commitment to our Wake County community. Aside from the PTA and being Board advisory Council representative of Douglas Elementary School, I’m also a volunteer at the Food Bank, an assistant cub scout master , an i9 coach and last year I was proud to be honored by the city of Raleigh when I was awarded the 2021 Fred Fletcher volunteer award as Outstanding Project Volunteer for work I led at the Annie Wilkerson Nature Preserve.
Three: For my character. If you know me, you know me to be a person of integrity. You know I’ll listen to what you have to say, you know my focus will be on what we can actually do to make improvements. If you don't know me yet, I'm confident you will learn that about me.- I support fully funding our schools through the Leandro decision, I believe we need significant teacher pay increases to ensure a well qualified teacher in every classroom, and I support both the Wake County School Bond and Wake Community College bond, both on the ballot this fall. I support all these items because those that will benefit the most will be ALL of our kids. As a public school father, I know that’s what matters most to families and our communities.
- I believe very strongly that candidates for school board should be transparent about who they are, what actions they’ve taken for public schools and where they stand on the issues. That's why I have a thorough website at samforwake.com that covers lots of issues.
- I’ve been endorsed by the Wake County Democratic Party, Wake NCAE, School Board Rep. Christine Kushner, Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson, State Representative Cynthia Ball and State Senator Jay Chaudhuri among others.
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.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sam Hershey did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Hershey's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
I believe candidates should be upfront on where they stand on the issues. If I am missing a particular issue or you need more detail, please let me know.
An approach to investing in infrastructure and expanding the local economy while limiting negative environmental impacts and increase employment opportunities.
Prioritize stormwater and sewage infrastructure upgrades. Focus on road repair and adding sidewalks. Traffic calming/reducing speeding particularly in neighborhoods and on cut through streets. Develop green streets with protected bike lanes. Open space preservation and park improvements. Development/redevelopment Ensure that we are allowing incremental development that doesn’t get ahead of what infrastructure can reasonably handle. Focus on density downtown and in select areas outside the beltline. Ensure that we are not preventing small business redevelopment projects with excessive regulation.
In order to have a more impactful change in affordable housing, we need to start by getting all relevant parties in one room and get everyone to buy in. Long term partnerships and consistent policies are necessary. Create a Raleigh Community Land Trust. Any properties owned or purchased by Raleigh should be done through the Land Trust. Seek out developers willing to build affordable housing units. Instead of single-family home developments, we should focus on high quality yet affordable townhomes, condominiums, and duplexes – fourplexes. Upzoning while respecting established neighborhoods. It’s very important to get neighborhoods to buy into any upzoning on teardowns and this is where leadership in the city is vital. Potential tax abatements for low-income seniors with the city being paid in full when the property is sold.
There is no question that summers are hotter every year and that severe weather is getting worse. We must do what we can at the city level. The right programs will lead to a cleaner environment, more local jobs and a high quality of life for all.
Incentivize commercial development and redevelopment to add solar. Build solar canopies in parking lots: creates clean energy and provides shade for parked vehicles. Solar on all city buildings that make sense. Work with developers of both commercial and residential to strive for LEED certification. Commission a study on local light rail and commuter train service. Fully support expanding Bus Rapid Transit into District A. Connect the greenways and add protected bike lanes on select roads. Study greenways/bike lanes running parallel to mass transit routes like light-rail or BRT. Ban all single-use plastic bags and plastic straws: Some local grocery stores already don’t use plastic bags and some food establishments already have plans in place to get rid of plastic straws. (See Starbucks) Raise Raleigh’s watershed protection fee by 1 cent to 2.5 cents/100 gallons to generate an additional $1.5 million/year. This will ensure abundant, clean drinking water.
We should always examine ways to improve the council. Four-year terms with alternating elections. Full-time positions and pay. Term limits. 3 terms as a city council member and 3 terms as Mayor. Consider creating more city council districts for better representation. Sign up to speak at a city council meeting should be 24 hours in advance. Constituents should be permitted to address city council members individually at a meeting. More resolutions and ordinances supporting our values: For the Equal Rights Amendment, Equality regardless of Sexual Orientation/Gender, Access to affordable quality healthcare which includes family planning services, A Clean environment and Being against the RDU Quarry expansion for starters. First Responders I will work to fully fund these needs. It’s a must in a growing city.
Add 60 additional firefighters to total numbers over the next four years to ensure 4 firefighters on every truck. Pay competitive salaries. Funds for consistent fire engine replacement and equipment upgrade. Police: We must support these men and women and work to promote better relationships among the community. Hire more officers. Staffing levels have not kept up with how fast the city has grown. Pay competitive salaries to help with recruitment and retention. Software and equipment upgrade for body cams so they turn on automatically when a gun is drawn if not active all the time. Additional funds to replace outdated equipment and ensure special groups within the department are fully staffed. Consider potential Review Board options. That includes defining what the goals would be and how it impacts Law Enforcement and the community.
I am 100% against the decision by the RDU Airport Authority to lease the Odd Fellows tract to a company for the purpose of a quarry. The quarry deal represents government at its worst. Raleigh City Council needs to assert its legal authority immediately. The City of Raleigh needs to make an offer to buy the Odd Fellows Tract. At a premium, if necessary understanding the importance of RDU to our economic success and our quality of life.
Airbnb and short term rentals permitted at primary residences only. We want to actively discourage companies from buying residential properties with hopes of turning them into short term rental units. Short term whole house rentals for up to 6 weeks are necessary given things like the World of Bluegrass festival, university’s spring and winter graduations, and the ability of Raleigh to attract more conventions and festivals in the future. Scooters: specified parking areas via geofencing or “scooter corrals.” Consider a dynamic cap on the number of scooters based on usage. Permit multiple companies to operate.
Constantly review regulations to ensure we aren’t overburdening small business owners. Against using tax incentives to lure more outside companies while small businesses don’t get assistance. Business recruitment of companies that are socially responsible and match the values of our city.
Yes, please [2] |
” |
| —Sam Hershey’s campaign website (2019)[3] | ||
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Wake County Public School System, District 6 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 13, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Sam Hershey’s campaign website, “Issues,” accessed August 25, 2019
