RALEIGH — John Fraley concedes he’s a political newcomer, but says incumbent state Rep. Bob Brawley is too old-school to represent properly House District 95, covering southern and most of eastern Iredell County.

Education issues, including teacher tenure and school choice, separate the Mooresville residents. Brawley also made news last year when he feuded publicly with House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, over several legislative issues, including expanding a municipal broadband service and a training measure for bail bondsmen.

Brawley and Fraley are competing in the May 6 primary for a district classified strong Republican by the North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation. The primary winner would claim the seat outright, barring a write-in or unaffiliated candidate in the Nov. 4 general election, because no Democrats filed to run.

Republicans represent 41.9 percent of registered voters compared to 26.3 percent for Democrats. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney got 68.2 percent of the district’s votes in 2012, and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory 75.6 percent.

While Brawley, seeking an 11th term, may have the legislative experience, Fraley, CEO of Fraley Global Home, Inc., has the campaign finance advantage.

According to NCFEF, Fraley had $92,584 cash on hand at the end of 2013. Brawley had $2,113.

Though Fraley has never held political office, he said there are two reasons for him to step in and challenge the incumbent.

“One, I am disappointed with government in general. If you don’t get involved you get what you get,” Fraley said.

“And two, I am scaling back. I have been in business for 40 years in the textile industry, and now I want to give back through public service,” he said.

Fraley said Brawley is an old-style, career politician, and doesn’t adequately fulfill the legislative process demands today.

“He has constant battles with Republican leadership, causing him to lose influence in trust and rapport with other legislators. Therefore, in my opinion, you can’t properly represent the district,” Fraley said.

Brawley is counting on his experience in the House and his knowledge of the district to give him the edge he needs to win.

Known for fighting proposed toll lanes on Interstate 77, he was recently named Legislator of the Year by the Cornelius-based TollFreeNC.org, a citizens activist group that opposes toll lanes.

“I am against all toll roads. I have been fighting against toll roads because it is the wrong thing to do. People are already taxed enough,” he said.

Brawley said he reaches out to all constituents to meet their wants and needs.

“I have experience, and have demonstrated leadership. I have lived and worked in my community all my life, and I know what the community needs are,” he said.

Both candidates have similar stances on expanding Medicaid and legislative redistricting.

Because Medicaid is an expensive, multibillion-dollar program, Brawley said he is not in favor of expanding it. He voted against adding to the North Carolina Medicaid rolls.

“There’s no need to expand it, [and we] don’t want to attract people moving to North Carolina to be on Medicaid,” Brawley said.

“Medicaid expansion is a bad idea,” Fraley said. It means “more federal control, and limits the states’ ability on how they allocate funds.”

He said Medicaid expansion would have to be paid up front, which will grow and chew through more and more money.

“We have to take a stand … to get the debt under control,” he said.

On legislative redistricting, Brawley said he would like to turn over the responsibility of drawing political maps to nonpartisan legislative staff.

“Its better competition when there is a more balanced district,” Brawley said. “Getting a nonpartisan [commission] can be a challenge, but it can be done.”

Fraley said lines should be drawn by a nonpartisan group to ensure the state’s population is not “just representing one party.”

The candidates praised Iredell County’s two school systems, the Mooresville Graded School District, and the Iredell-Statesville School System. Combined, they represent a total of 40 schools and an enrollment of about 19,500 students.

But they draw some distinctions between themselves on education matters involving schools, such as teacher tenure.

“When I first came to the General Assembly I was against teacher tenure. Now I have seen some benefits of teacher tenure,” Brawley said.

“It’s a training ground. People who succeed know how to analyze and make decisions, develop a better understanding around you. Practice does make perfect,” and tenure rewards those progressions, Brawley said.

Another tenure benefit, Brawley said, is to protect those who are openly active politically.

“Teachers should be allowed to talk politics and religion in the classroom,” he said. “A teacher’s political involvement is not a good reason to fire a teacher.”

Fraley is not in favor of teacher tenure in the public schools.

Tenure makes it “too restrictive on the ability to remove teachers who are underperforming in the classroom,” Fraley said.

“We need to have a better system of contracts and compensation for teachers, which then needs to be studied and adjusted,” he said.

Fraley supports merit pay for teachers, but said pay raise decisions should include some degree of local judgment, and should not be based solely on student test scores.

What’s needed right now, Fraley said, is to figure out how to make teaching a career to which students aspire.

“We need to package the entire teaching program. If we don’t, we will have a bigger problem in the future,” said Fraley.

Brawley said teachers are too constrained by federal and state government rules in the classroom.

“We shouldn’t tell them how to run everything they do. Washington and the government should get out of the classroom,” he said.

There is a place for charter schools and homeschooling in the education delivery mix, “but our priority should be providing a public school education for everybody,” Brawley said.

“We should do everything we can to make our public schools the best choice. But I do think parents should have choices,” Brawley said.

Fraley said he also favors parental school choice.

“It’s up to the parents to decide what they think is best for their child. It should not be up to me to decide,” said Fraley.

Fraley said the money should follow students if they leave traditional schools for other options, and it has to be done on an equitable basis.

“The money needs to follow the students based upon the services schools have to supply,” he said.

Evelyn Howell is a contributor to Carolina Journal.