Thomas Dement (Wake Forest Town Council, North Carolina, candidate 2025)
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Thomas Dement is running for election to the Wake Forest Town Council in North Carolina. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Dement completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Thomas Dement provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on September 22, 2025:
- Birth place: Raleigh, North Carolina
- High school: Needham Broughton High School
- Bachelor's: North Carolina State University, 2000
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Christian: Baptist
- Profession: Business Management
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign website
- Campaign endorsements
- Campaign Facebook
- Campaign Twitter
Elections
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for Wake Forest Town Council (2 seats)
The following candidates are running in the general election for Wake Forest Town Council on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
Thomas Dement (Nonpartisan)  | ||
 | Haseeb Fatmi (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Pam James (Nonpartisan) | |
| R. Keith Shackleford (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Nick Sliwinski (Nonpartisan) | ||
 | Jasmine Zavala (Nonpartisan) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Dement's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Thomas Dement completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dement's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a Wake County native and proud resident of Wake Forest for the 18 years. I’m a husband, father of two, and deeply invested in the future of the town my family calls home.
I volunteer with The Summit Church and a local animal rescue, reflecting my heart for service and care for both people and animals. Professionally, I’ve spent over two decades in the heavy equipment dealership industry, where I’ve led teams, improved operations, and built a reputation as a collaborative leader with strong financial and business experience.
I believe that if we have skills and capabilities, we should utilize them to serve our community. Like many of you, I’ve seen how rapid growth is straining our roads, infrastructure, and quality of life. That’s why I’m running for Town Commissioner—to make sure Wake Forest grows responsibly while preserving the character that makes it such a great place to live and raise a family.- Smart, Responsible Growth Wake Forest is growing quickly, but growth must be guided by thoughtful planning that protects our small-town identity. I believe in prioritizing neighborhoods over high-density sprawl, investing in infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, and greenways, and making sure development keeps pace with the services and character that make Wake Forest a great place to live
- Revenue Without Raising Taxes Each year, Wake Forest generates millions in food, beverage, and occupancy taxes—but most of that money stays in Raleigh. I’ll fight to reclaim our fair share of those dollars so we can reinvest in our own town, improving parks, roads, and community spaces—without raising local taxes.
- Community, Parks & Quality of Life Our housing growth has outpaced investment in parks, greenways, and recreation. I’ll push to close that gap by expanding green space, improving walkability, and creating recreation opportunities for all ages. These investments strengthen community, protect natural beauty, and ensure Wake Forest remains a connected, livable town for families.
I am most passionate about policies that ensure Wake Forest grows responsibly while protecting its character. That means land use and development policies that balance growth with infrastructure, fiscal policies that are conservative and steward taxpayer dollars wisely, and investments in parks, greenways, and recreation that keep pace with our population. These priorities strengthen quality of life, support long-term sustainability, and keep Wake Forest livable for generations.
The responsibility of a Town Commissioner is, first and foremost, to serve the people of Wake Forest. That begins with listening—listening to residents, to experts, and to those directly affected by our decisions. It also means being informed: studying the issues, asking tough questions, and gathering all the facts, even when the answers aren’t popular. Equally important is being invested—committing the time to meet with residents and community groups outside regular meetings. Ultimately, the role is about making decisions that reflect the values and character of Wake Forest while planning wisely for the future.
This service must also be carried out with honesty, integrity, and transparency. Public office is a position of trust, and I see it as an opportunity to give back to a community that has given so much to my family and me. I would be honored to serve Wake Forest in this way.
This service must also be carried out with honesty, integrity, and transparency. Public office is a position of trust, and I see it as an opportunity to give back to a community that has given so much to my family and me. I would be honored to serve Wake Forest in this way.
NCSU's 83 win! I still have a bottle of Cardiac Pack soda and remember going to the basketball games in Reynolds Coliseum with my dad back in '83. Of course, the first event of national consequence was the Challenger space shuttle disaster when i was in elementary school.
When I was young, I think somehow before I was even 14 I got a job delivering Ad-Pak newspapers to homes. They didn’t want to give a young kid the job as most delivery-persons were much older, but they let me try it and learned very quickly that a young kid could go from delivering to 150 homes to 600 homes every week with nothing but grit, determination, and a bicycle! I learned organization and planning early and was successful with it! I have a long list of fun jobs thru school from selling drinks in the stands of NCSU football games to blueprinting companies, many spanning for years.
Saying No. I am fortunate to have many capabilities and a heart to help others, so when I am asked I want to say yes. I put in the time to carry the “yeses” which often times means long days or late nights, but it fills my cup to make life better for those around me. As a result I have to balance and not over-commit myself and it has taught me the value of time management and prioritization.
Specific to Wake Forest, I believe voters need to know that the Board of Commissioners vote on and approve all major town policies. While the Mayor gets the headlines, the person(s) you vote for as a Board Member carries more weight on future decision-making in Wake Forest.
In this role, I believe it’s more important for commissioners to have real-life experience that reflects the community they serve than to have a background in politics. The job requires the ability to sort through complex information and differing viewpoints, then make decisions that benefit our town for the long term. What Wake Forest needs are not career politicians, but people deeply committed to the success and well-being of our community.
Specific to Wake Forest, I was talking with a developer in the community that has been involved with a number of housing developments. His word to describe development in Wake Forest was “chaos”. That struck a chord with me as we are all feeling the impacts of this. When even developers are echoing what the residents and business owners are feeling, it is time to do things different.
That is why we must better manage growth by prioritizing neighborhood planning that is not driven by high-density projects, but preserves our small-town character, protects trees, and supports families of all generations.
That is why we must better manage growth by prioritizing neighborhood planning that is not driven by high-density projects, but preserves our small-town character, protects trees, and supports families of all generations.
My family. I am proud of my wonderful wife of 24 years. We may drive each other crazy, but we are very much still in love after all these years. We have raised 2 amazing and talented kids, one a sophomore in college and the other a sophomore in high school.
The best decision I made was 8 years ago when I left the big Fortune 100 company to become a partner and leader in a regional dealership organization. This has allowed my career to flourish and to directly help others throughout our organization while enabling the flexibility to provide and be present for my family.
The best decision I made was 8 years ago when I left the big Fortune 100 company to become a partner and leader in a regional dealership organization. This has allowed my career to flourish and to directly help others throughout our organization while enabling the flexibility to provide and be present for my family.
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.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
