Wally White

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

Wally White

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Appalachian State University, 1991

Personal

Birthplace

Reidsville, N.C.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Minister

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Wally White (Democratic Party) ran for election to the North Carolina State Senate to represent District 30. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

White completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Wally White was born in Reidsville, North Carolina. He received a bachelor's degree from Appalachian State University in 1991. White's professional experience includes being the senior minister at Unity in Greensboro and working in tv production for "Guiding Light," "As the World Turns," "General Hospital," and "The Young and the Restless." He has been affiliated with Rockingham County Salvation Army Senior Angel Tree, Unity Worldwide Ministries, and the Lynn H. Smith Memorial Scholarship.

Elections

2020

See also: North Carolina State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for North Carolina State Senate District 30

Incumbent Phil Berger defeated Wally White in the general election for North Carolina State Senate District 30 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Phil Berger (R)	68.6	68,712
		Wally White (D)	31.4	31,481

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 100,193
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Wally White advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Senate District 30.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Phil Berger advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 30.

2018

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65

Jerry Carter defeated Michael H. Lee and Houston Barrow in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jerry Carter (R)	57.4	16,464
	Submit photo	Michael H. Lee (D)	34.9	10,007
		Houston Barrow (L)	7.7	2,220

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 28,691
= 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

Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65

Michael H. Lee defeated Wally White in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65 on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Michael H. Lee	50.8	1,394
		Wally White	49.2	1,351

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 2,745
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65

Jerry Carter advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 65 on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Jerry Carter

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 28, 2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Wally White completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by White'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.

Wally White's career in film and television, and now as a minister, has granted him the uniquely broad experience of working with people of diverse beliefs and backgrounds. Raised as the son of small business owners in Eden, Wally was trained to use a work ethic focused on serving people and getting the job done. He is poised to bring that set of values to the General Assembly.

White was recently featured in a Greensboro News & Record article which wrote, "Optimism, kindness, a lively wit and curiosity about the world and other people are hallmarks of his personality. Those traits give him a certain radiance. They led White onstage, backstage, onto the ballot, into the choir stand, in front of the camera and behind the pulpit." White is committed to helping small businesses and economic development initiatives that serve both our urban and rural communities and he enters the 2020 NC Senate race fully intent on serving his community well and all the people who live in it.

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?

• Expand Medicaid Now - Along with doing the right thing for our citizens who need access to healthcare, it will help economic development by creating new jobs and additional tax revenues.
• Investing in Public Education is the right thing to do for our children, and a quality education program also attracts new businesses to the area.
• Clean Air and Water is extremely important for our health and well being. It is also an important factor in economic growth for our community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

-Medicaid Expansion - Medicaid must be expanded immediately. It's estimated that expanding -Medicaid would create 40,000 new North Carolina jobs, bring $4 billion into our economy each year, expand coverage to 500,000 people who are currently uninsured, and save roughly 1,000 lives every year. That last estimate alone means that not expanding Medicaid is allowing 1,000 North Carolinians to die unnecessarily every single year. That is unacceptable.

-Education: When we open minds through education, we open up endless possibilities to the great things our children can do and become. The North Carolina Constitution says, "The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right." Our state Constitution also guarantees equality. In order to deliver on those rights, I believe every public dollar spent on education should be spent in our public schools. I plan to work with educators to develop and implement a 10-year plan that would propel our state toward a #1 ranking in pre-K through 12th grade education.

-Economy: I was raised in a family-owned-and-operated dry cleaners in Eden. The income of that business fed and housed my family, as well as the employees who worked there. Small businesses like that are the heart of our communities. When recruiting large employers, we are asking their executives to move their families to our community. Those families will be seeking good education and healthcare.

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

Elected officials are public servants. Their principles should be governed by answering the call of serving the citizens. Their greatest characteristic should be empathy. Taking time to understand someone's circumstance from their perspective instead of the official's is essential.

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

I am a problem solver which includes being a good listener. Working in television production offices trained me hear the problem and fix it quick. My training as an actor and writer has given me great researching skills. None of us need to be experts in every subject, but we do need to know how to find the answers to every question.

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

My first job was working for my parent's dry cleaners, which at that time was One Hour Martinizing in Meadow Green Shopping Center. After the clothes were cleaned and pressed, I "worked the line" matching up clothes with the orders and then bagged the orders. My first job away from the family business was at Kingsway Cinema in Eden. I popped a lot of popcorn and mopped a lot of floors, but did it all happily for the perk of seeing all the movies I wanted for free.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Pure Imagination from the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack. It became the basis for a lesson at church. I tend to sing a lot of Broadway, American standards, and black gospel music.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

North Carolina has fallen too far behind in providing a quality public education to our citizens. We have to bring our per pupil spending up to the national average. We also have to bring our teacher pay up to the national average. After we do that, we should begin to exceed beyond the average numbers because we Tarheels are better than average people. We should strive to be known as offering the best education the world has to offer. This will take time to achieve, but I believe we should set the goal of achieving this status within a decade.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Politicians should not be the ones drawing their own political districts. It is time to create an independent redistricting commission with a state Constitutional amendment to guarantee fair elections. Courts have forced the NC Legislature to redraw maps this year, but those duties went back to the same people who had drawn the last illegal districts... and the ones before that. It is like catching a burglar, telling him not to do it again, and then giving him the keys to the house he just got caught breaking into. Republicans defend their actions saying Democrats did the same thing for years. I say it is time to stop anyone from doing it because cheating should never be acceptable behavior. It is not allowed in a kindergarten classroom, and it should not be allowed in the General Assembly.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

A constituent shared her health challenge that took her from being a working, tax paying truck driver to someone on disability with more medical debt than she will ever likely be able to pay. The doctors weren't able to quickly diagnose her condition. She didn't realize that her subcontractor contract had a clause that stated she would be automatically terminated beyond two weeks of sick leave. When she lost her job, she lost her insurance. She didn't qualify for medicaid because there were no minors in her home, and was turned down for disability as well. When the doctors finally diagnosed her problem, they prescribed her medicines that cost $3,000 per month. Unable to pay for those medicines, she began rationing the doses. That led to a heart attack, which was accompanied by an $150,000 bill. Another attempt at getting disability was denied because she was found non-compliant on her medicine intake (the ones she couldn't take as prescribed because she didn't have $3,000 per month to pay for the medicine). She had two more heart attacks and then a quadruple bypass leaving her hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. She can't marry the love of her life for fear of him losing his home to debt collectors. This woman was a CDL certified truck driver who could've been back to work within six months if our state had Medicaid expansion. Instead of being a happy, healthy, tax paying citizen, her life has most likely been shortened and she now depends on disability payments to survive.

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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Footnotes

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Current members of the North Carolina State Senate

Leadership

Minority Leader:Sydney Batch

Senators

District 1

Robert Hanig (R)

District 2

Norman Sanderson (R)

District 3

Bob Brinson (R)

District 4

Eldon Newton (R)

District 5

Kandie Smith (D)

District 6

Michael Lazzara (R)

District 7

Michael Lee (R)

District 8

William Rabon (R)

District 9

Brent Jackson (R)

District 10

Benton Sawrey (R)

District 11

Lisa Barnes (R)

District 12

Jim Burgin (R)

District 13

Lisa Grafstein (D)

District 14

Dan Blue (D)

District 15

Jay Chaudhuri (D)

District 16

Gale Adcock (D)

District 17

Sydney Batch (D)

District 18

Terence Everitt (D)

District 19

Val Applewhite (D)

District 20

Natalie Murdock (D)

District 21

Tom McInnis (R)

District 22

Sophia Chitlik (D)

District 23

Graig Meyer (D)

District 24

Danny Britt (R)

District 25

Amy Galey (R)

District 26

Phil Berger (R)

District 27

Michael Garrett (D)

District 28

Gladys Robinson (D)

District 29

Dave Craven (R)

District 30

Steven Jarvis (R)

District 31

Dana Jones (R)

District 32

Paul Lowe (D)

District 33

Carl Ford (R)

District 34

Chris Measmer (R)

District 35

Todd Johnson (R)

District 36

Eddie Settle (R)

District 37

Vickie Sawyer (R)

District 38

Mujtaba Mohammed (D)

District 39

DeAndrea Salvador (D)

District 40

Joyce Waddell (D)

District 41

Caleb Theodros (D)

District 42

Woodson Bradley (D)

District 43

Brad Overcash (R)

District 44

Ted Alexander (R)

District 45

Mark Hollo (R)

District 46

Warren Daniel (R)

District 47

Ralph Hise (R)

District 48

Timothy Moffitt (R)

District 49

Julie Mayfield (D)

District 50

Kevin Corbin (R)

Republican Party (30)

Democratic Party (20)