Will Aiken
Will Aiken (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 1st Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on May 17, 2022.
Aiken completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Will Aiken was born in Henderson, North Carolina.[1] Aiken earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from East Carolina University in 2008.[1][2][3] His career experience includes working as a special agent for the state of North Carolina and a patrol officer.[1][3]
Elections
2022
See also: North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2022
North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Democratic primary)
North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 1
Donald Davis defeated Sandy Smith in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Donald Davis (D) | 52.4 | 134,996 |
 | Sandy Smith (R)  | 47.6 | 122,780 | |
| Total votes: 257,776 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Eshan Patel (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1
Donald Davis defeated Erica Smith, Jason Spriggs, and Jullian Bishop Sr. in the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Donald Davis | 63.2 | 42,693 |
 | Erica Smith | 31.1 | 21,012 | |
 | Jason Spriggs | 3.1 | 2,123 | |
 | Jullian Bishop Sr. | 2.6 | 1,752 | |
| Total votes: 67,580 | |||
| = 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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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sandy Smith | 31.4 | 13,621 |
 | Sandy Roberson | 26.7 | 11,603 | |
 | Billy Strickland | 13.9 | 6,050 | |
 | Brent Roberson | 13.8 | 5,992 | |
 | Brad Murphy | 9.5 | 4,128 | |
 | Will Aiken | 3.0 | 1,285 | |
 | Ernest Reeves | 1.2 | 523 | |
| Henry Williams | 0.5 | 202 | ||
| Total votes: 43,404 | |||
| = 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
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Will Aiken completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Aiken's responses.
| Collapse all
- I am an America first candidate. I believe we should be taking care of America before we take care of and spend our hard earned tax dollars on other countries.
- We have enough lawyers and criminals in Congress; it's time to send a cop.
- I have spent my entire career fighting for you and I'm just getting started.
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
Aiken's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Abortion I am unapologetically pro-life. I believe life begins at conception. If elected, I will fight to protect the lives of the innocent and will vote to defund Planned Parenthood once and for all. Crime This is one of the issues I'm most passionate about. As a law enforcement officer, I have seen first hand the negative impact that crime has on the quality of life in our communities. Since 2020, bail laws have been "reformed" and radical leftist district attorneys have began to refuse to prosecute so called "lower level crimes" such as drug crimes, trespassing, driving without a license, etc. These crimes have huge impacts on the daily lives of law abiding citizens. Many criminals are now allowed to sign themselves out when arrested or they receive a low bond. Many of these "reforms" have been pushed by people in power who want to see their radical dreams of the abolishment of the criminal justice system realized. It's no coincidence violent crime is soaring nationwide. I will vote to withhold federal funding to municipalities who employ these radical strategies. Guns I believe the "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall NOT be infringed". The Founding Fathers understood the God given right to keep and bear arms was essential not only to the safety of the individual and their family, but the safety of the nation also. If elected I will always vote against gun control, "assault weapon bans", magazine laws, and "red flag laws". I will vote to protect the Modern Sporting Rifles (such as the AR-15) that have become so important to our safety and security. Taxes I believe our hard earned tax money is not a spending spree for the government. I believe spending should be prioritized and if elected, I will vote to lower taxes for the middle class. I will vote to decrease the capital gains tax; which is a tax on creation, innovation, and success. I will also vote to expand opportunity zones, which helps redevelop our decaying cities and towns while giving everyone an opportunity to create wealth. Policing I believe strongly in the institution of policing. Strong, professional law enforcement agencies make for safe communities. I believe in the "weed and seed" method of policing. This includes using proactive policing to get offenders off the street and "reseeding" the community with community programs. I will always vote to fund law enforcement agencies and for the JAG program; which provides ballistic vests to law enforcement agencies facing budgetary constraints. Border Security I know first hand how important this can be. As a state law enforcement officer, I know there are cartel operatives operating in Eastern North Carolina. I have been part of investigations and made arrests of subjects violating drug laws tied to and working for drug cartels. I will vote to finish the wall and upgrade the existing barrier in areas it needs it. I will also vote to increase patrols and reconnaissance of areas where a wall cannot be built. National Security I believe in "peace through strength". We must stand strong in the face of our enemies and those who wish to do harm to America. Our future relies on the funding of our military and national security apparatus. We must modernize our Space Capabilities. I will vote to increase funding for our military; especially the Space Force. China has demonstrated they have a hypersonic missile and the U.S. must acquire the capability to not only possess one ourselves, but to be able to defend against an attack using one. Russia has shown they have "space stalker" satellites which are designed to stalk our satellites around space and destroy them on command. It is imperative we regain domination in space. If elected, I will also vote for policies that continue to root out terrorism and kill it at it's root. I will vote to eliminate federal funding for countries such as Iran that take our money and use it to fund terrorism and kill Americans. Energy Indepedence Energy independence is a national security and economical issue. The United States of America was a net exporter of energy in 2019. With war and instability raging in Eastern Europe, we can no longer afford to be beholden to foreign nations for our oil. I will vote to reinstate the leases canceled by the Biden Administration for oil and gas drilling locations and to restart the Keystone XL pipeline. Our families and their pocketbooks cannot afford to be held hostage by the increasing cost of gasoline. The Economy I believe that the key to a good economy is pro-growth principles, low taxes, and deregulation. I will always fight for our economy and our small businesses. We must take steps now to curb this runaway inflation we are currently experiencing. We can't keep printing and giving out free money. We must teach the federal government the value of a dollar. If elected, I will fight to lower taxes and cut regulations to promote the return of manufacturing back to District 1. A country that cannot manufacture cannot innovate. I will also fight to curb government spending and prioritize spending on items most important to the safety and security of America. Opioid Epidemic Like so many others, this is an issue that has personally affected my family. I was a patrol officer when heroin made it's roaring comeback in our communities. I saw first hand the devastation it has wreaked on our families and our loved ones. I have been first in the stack of operators serving search warrants on high risk heroin dealers and I have seized thousands of bindles of heroin off the streets. If elected, I will vote to continue holding Big Pharma accountable for unleashing this demon on us and I will vote to encourage research on non-addictive pain medication. I will author legislation to federally reclassify heroin from a Schedule One controlled substance to a Schedule Two controlled substance. Right now heroin is classified federally with marijuana when it should be with cocaine. This will allow for meaningful federal enforcement of heroin dealers by our United States Attorney's Offices which will in turn get them out of our communities.[4] |
” |
| —Will Aiken's campaign website (2022)[5] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 16, 2022.
- ↑ Facebook, "Will Aiken," accessed April 18, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Will Aiken, "Meet Will," accessed April 18, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Will Aiken for Congress, “On the Issues,” accessed April 11, 2022
