US Senate (2026P)
NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot.
Reason for my Endorsement: Justin E. Dues got my attention (and I’d like to have a beer with him sometime), but Cooper’s the only candidate who’s got the fight and the might to take on Washington.
Daryl Farrow
[No website or social media found]
It was difficult to find much campaign information about Farrow. He was was born in Trenton, N.C. and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He He attended Jones County Public Schools as a child. He went to community college in Lenior County and Craven County before going to Kansas State University. Farrow is a businessman, husband, and father of two. Farrow ran for Congress in 2020 in NC’s 3rd CD against Republican Greg Murphy, taking 36.62% of the vote. During that campaign, he said he supported abortion rights and wanted to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.
Justin E. Dues
https://www.justicewithdues.org/
Dues, now 40 years old, ran for US Congress in the 8th CD in 2024. He brands himself “working class,” and is earnest in his understanding of economic inequities. He exhibits the non-denominational anger about how every lever of power is in the hands of very rich people. He emphasizes the power of the independent and unaffiliated voters in North Carolina. His campaign priorities are to increase wages to $30/hr. by 2030; establish healthcare as a human right; “tax billionaires out of existence” and punish corporate greed; end gerrymandering; overturn Citizens United; and establish term limits for for elected representatives.
I like this guy. He talks it, and he walks it.
His website covers his very interesting and family’s working class life story:”Long story short, I learned at a young age the value of a sound work ethic. When 9/11 occurred a seed of service, or desire to help others, was planted in my heart.”He was also a Marine Corps Squad Leader 2003 to 2012. and also a “Veteran of OIF and OEF that will stand up to Forever Wars, Proxy Wars, and DoD Waste hidden under the pretense of ‘supporting the troops’.”
Dues completed his MBA at UNC Charlotte in 2018, and is now the father of four children:
“After finishing my MBA I was inspired to create a safe wearable to address injuries sustained during service that would replace the use of opioids for pain management. What I have learned along the way is that if you value profits above all else, which may be ideal for ownership – is that everyone else’s purpose, passion, and happiness is left in the dust.”
Did that start-up ever bear fruit? The Charlotte Observer lists his current occupation as “Entrepreneur & Science Educator,” but I can’t find any additional info. His Linked In page lists remote employment with Thalheimer Brothers in Philadelphia, a high-volume scrap metal dealer, known for its “furnace-ready packages” for foundries and mills of non-melted material: “Eliminating the cost of melting allows us to sell our furnace-ready packages at a steep discount to ingot pricing. Additionally, we have our own fleet of trucks, which minimizes transportation cost.” What Dues does for Thalheimer Bros. is unclear.
Roy Cooper:
https://www.facebook.com/roycoopernc
I’ve supported Roy Cooper since he was Attorney General and when he ran for Governor for two terms. He’s always managed to be on what I consider the “right side” — the side for human rights and the right side of history. He’s sometimes too cautious for me but, then, who isn’t? But when Copper decides to jump out the gate on an issue, he tends to jump fast and high.
Cooper probably won the governorship in 2016 because of the fabled and highly prejudicial “bathroom bill” that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law and that immediately cost the state big in tourism and investment dollars as well as the opprobrium of fair-minded people everywhere. Dismayed by Cooper’s win, in late 2016 the General Assembly passed special legislation before he was inaugurated to reduce the power of the governor’s office. In what The New York Times described as a ‘surprise special session,’ Republican legislators moved to strip Cooper’s powers right before he assumed the governorship.
Despite the backhanded treatment by the General Assembly, Cooper never stopped pushing for the expansion of Medicaid in NC under the ACA, which he finally accomplished in 2023 when Republicans lost their super-majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. As governor, Cooper did not dilly-dally about COVID. He took what some consider drastic, aggressive action to curtain infection and death, but he was no doubt responsible for NC’s relatively low death-rate.
Cooper’s first veto as governor in 2017 was of a bill that would make elections to the North Carolina Superior Court and to the District Court partisan, after being conducted on a nonpartisan basis for many years. His veto was promptly overridden by the Republican super-majorities in both houses. And that pattern of veto-veto override became the continuing drama for most of Cooper’s time as governor, especially in 2017 when the Republicans had absolute veto-proof majorities and exercised iron-handed party unity:
There’s more: Cooper vetoed a bill on April 21, 2017, to reduce the size of the North Carolina Court of Appeals by three judges. Overridden. He also vetoed a bill on April 21, 2017 that would create a new State Board of Elections (and new county boards of elections) split evenly between the Republicans and the Democrats. Overridden. But then through litigation, overturned (temporarily). Cooper also vetoed a bill that would limit individuals’ ability to sue hog farms. Overridden. On June 27, 2017, Cooper vetoed the proposed state budget, which he had called “irresponsible.” Overridden. In July 2017, Cooper vetoed a bill to authorize nonprofit organizations to operate “game nights.” Overridden.
Elections Matter.
In the 2018 Blue Wave, the Republicans lost their veto-proof majorities in both houses, but they nevertheless could bulldoze the governor by enlisting certain Democrats — especially in the House — who would consistently vote with them to override the governor. Most of those turncoat Democrats are now facing their own primaries for reelection.
Robert Colon
A perennial candidate, Colon ran for a Congressional seat (7th CD in 2020) and for US Senate in 2022, in the latter race earning 1.1% of the vote. The Charlotte Observer said he holds “a certification in the field of water and wastewater management,” but there’s no further info about his employment.
Colon lists as his priorities if elected dealing with criminals guided by the Constitution; fair immigration laws; peace (“President is to be applauded for his leadership in this area.”) WTF?!; tax reform; and freedom, justice, and unity values.
Marcus W. Williams
See his video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CFpBYxioH
https://ballotpedia.org/Marcus_Williams_(North_Carolina)
Williams is a perennial candidate. He has run previously in primaries for Congress and US Senate (2022) and for NC Governor in 2024.
Williams earned his B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975 and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1978. His professional experience includes working as attorney at a private practice, as an Assistant Public Defender for the State of North Carolina from 2001 to 2006, as an executive director for Pennsylvania Legal Services from 1996 to 2000, as an executive director for Legal Services of the Lower Cape Fear from 1987 from 1996, as an executive director for Legal Services of the Coastal Plains from 1983 from 1987 and as attorney/law clerk/community fellow from Southern Minnesota Regional Services from 1976 to 1983.
He cites the housing shortage, a focus on educational and/or vocational skills, and equality of access to education as some of his priorities if elected. Born in Lumberton, NC, Williams’ wife of 31 years is also an Attorney.
Orrick Quick
https://www.facebook.com/votequick/
Quick, a pastor from New Covenant Church in High Point: “We are a church building filled with people and faith… working for the Kingdom of God!” He is a former N.C. State football player and previously ran for the High Point City Council. He briefly co-hosted an interesting 2016 Fox TV talk show called “The Preachers.”
Quick says he’s a loyal Democrat who doesn’t always agree with his party but vows to protect medicare and social security and be an advocate for children and families. Quick says he was motivated to run for the NC Senate because of the impacts of President Trump’s “megabill:”