By Mia Overton, Franklin Press
Franklin – N.C. Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Franklin), who is serving as Republican Party’s majority whip, is facing former Andrews mayor Nancy Curtis for his seat in the N.C. House of Representatives.
Gillespie has served alongside state Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin) for the last two terms. Corbin proceeded Gillespie in his House seat.
In a recent interview, Gillespie outlined his stances on a number of important issues.
- Going into 2025, what are the three most important western North Carolina issues for you and how would you tackle them?
The No. 1 issue for me since I ran, and while even when I was a Macon County commissioner, was broadband. This recent weather event really brought forth how vulnerable we are in the western part of the state in regard to broadband. So broadband has to be in that top three.
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How do we fix it? I think through the state and the federal grant programs, they're getting more and more subscribers. Is it getting enough? No. But I think we need to continue to fund those and increase funding to those so that we can help our providers push further through the district.
An additional item that we haven't paid a whole lot of attention to that, if I'm lucky enough to go back to the Legislature, will be a top priority of mine, is having discussions with all providers, both internet and cellular, about diverse routes out of western North Carolina because, as you know, all of all of the failures that we had in our communications lines was going east. We need to look at, and we're very uniquely positioned in western North Carolina to do this, we need to look at the potential of a connection to Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina so we would have multiple connections out of western North Carolina.
When we talk about the recent weather event, one of the things that other than the event itself, one of the things that was the most crippling was our lack of communication. Communication is my background, and that's very important to me.
Education has always been a priority of mine and will continue to be. We have to prepare our children to play on a global playing field. There's nothing regional about it today, so we have to prepare those students and that preparation includes a four-year undergraduate degree. It includes a trade school pathway because we all know how bad the shortage is of trade schools today. I think it's very important that our students have to have a solid educational background in K-12 and that will prepare them for their future, and we have to make sure that is in place because that's the future for all of us.
Probably the third thing is health care. Since HCA took over, we have had some substantial challenges with health care, so I think we need to continue to keep an eye on that and do everything that we can to entice other providers to come into the area. I think we have to understand that there's a rural health care crisis across this nation. It's not just in western North Carolina, so something we're looking at on a statewide level is how to keep those small community hospitals healthy and how to keep our large corporate hospitals in check and making sure they're providing the necessary services to the citizens.
- What would you strive to put in the 2025-2026 state budget for the N.C. House 120th District?
When I went to the Legislature in 2020, I did not have any preconceived ideas on what I would seek funding for. If I'm fortunate enough to go back to Raleigh in January, I will go in without any preconceived or pre-planned personal ideas on what to seek funding for. What Sen. Kevin Corbin and I have both done is we reach out to our local county commissioner boards, our local town boards, our local nonprofits, all the folks that depend on state funding, and we get those requests from them.
I believe the closer you are to where the water hits the wheel, the better off you are, and our local folks are here dealing with things on a daily basis. They know what those funding needs are, and we rely on them to make those recommendations for us. And then, we go to work in Raleigh to try to fulfill those needs.
We started, probably back in September, our office started reaching out to all our county commissioner boards, all our school board superintendents, to our county managers and town managers and started talking about, “What do you think your potential needs are? What are the costs associated with that?” And we're still in the midst of doing that and putting that list together, and then we'll sit down and prioritize those items.
- Do you feel the legislative leaders in Raleigh listen to the voices of western North Carolina?
Absolutely do. Corbin is the one that came up with this. That is the Far West. Now, there's western North Carolina and sometimes folks think Hickory is western North Carolina and Asheville's western North Carolina, but we refer to it as the Far West.
State Rep. Roger West, who served before Kevin, did a fantastic job making the legislators from across the state understand where western North Carolina is and where the Far West is. And Kevin has done that, and I've continued to do that. So, absolutely, they understand where the far-western part of North Carolina is at.
- If you could change one thing about the N.C. General Assembly, what would it be?
Probably, the one thing about the General Assembly that I've had to learn about is the speed in which it operates and the processes which are in place. Those processes are put in place to protect the citizens of North Carolina, and they need to be there. I do think that there are some things that the General Assembly could do to help expedite things and be more productive.
And then, kind of as a side note, I tell a lot of my legislators from down east that the Legislature is going to meet in Asheville part of the time. So, jokingly, it would be nice to have it in Asheville so we wouldn't have to go out so far.
- How well do you think the General Assembly operates?
The N.C. General Assembly was designed to make sure that everyone across the state had a voice. And sometimes that process can be cumbersome and time consuming. But I think that one of the greatest things about the General Assembly is that everyone across the state of North Carolina has a voice.
As an example, a constituent, and this happens a lot, will call me when I'm in Raleigh or at home. And it gives me an opportunity to talk to folks in Raleigh and get them answers. And if it's something that we feel strongly about, it's something that I can speak to in committee and I can speak to on the floor. So, I think that's one of the greatest things about the General Assembly is every citizen across North Carolina has the opportunity to have their voice heard.
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