Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

Family information: My wife Brooke and I have two sons.

Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC

Education: Graduate of Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem; BA in Communications from Wake Forest University.

Career: Sales Manager for Carswell Distributing for 17 years

Political Experience: 1995-2005 U.S. House of Representatives; 2005-Present U.S. Senate.

Six years ago, I made a commitment to serve North Carolinians. I believe I have upheld that commitment and will continue to do so if North Carolinians give me the opportunity to continue my service to this state.  I have been honored to serve North Carolina in the United States Senate and travel around this state almost every weekend meeting with North Carolinians and their families. For the past year, government has been doing unnatural things by owning car companies and owning insurance companies. The American people want us to get out of the business of doing that and I do as well.

I believe that the top priority for Congress should be job creation and getting our economy going again.  With our high unemployment rate, I believe that it is the responsibility of North Carolina's elected representatives to ensure that we encourage and adopt policies that drive entrepreneurship and create good-paying, private sector jobs.  Rather than pour more taxpayer dollars into programs and jobs that are supported by the government, we need to be focusing on big-picture ideas that will actually provide an economic environment that spawns the private sector innovation and investment needed to sustain long-term economic growth and good-paying jobs.