As voters look toward November’s general election, Monroe Mayor Robert Burns has his sights set further ahead on 2028.

According to a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, he filed the paperwork to run for governor on the Republican ticket last month.

He also listed his current election website for mayor, electrobertburns.com, as his campaign website.

Candidate filing for the 2028 election cycle doesn’t begin until 2027, so he would have to file again to officially be on the ballot.

Burns was first elected as the Union County town’s mayor in 2023 in a coin flip after both he and his opponent, Bob Yanacsek, both received 970 votes. His term as mayor was extended another year after Monroe’s municipal elections were moved to even-numbered years after the passage of House Bill 3, which became state law in June.

Burns term as mayor will end in December.

He announced in October that he would not be seeking re-election, and that he would be “working toward making a statewide impact.” He endorsed council member David Dotson to succeed him and hinted there would be “big news” coming in the future.

Again, in recent posts on his X account, Burns said there would be a big announcement and to “stay tuned.”

He told WBT Radio that he would make a formal announcement in July.

His tenure hasn’t been free of controversy.

The NAACP’s Union County branch called for Burns to be removed from office last September.

They claimed that he used his elected position to amplify extremist accounts and incite harassment after using the city’s official platform to target private citizens who disagreed with him after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

According to WCNC TV, Burns said that he was “deeply disturbed that the Union County NAACP would take the side of a Democratic Party leader who openly celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk. Let’s be clear: this was not some private citizen, as they now claim.”

The TV station also reported that in July, the Monroe City Council voted “no confidence” in the mayor, saying he used the city’s logo and address while posting personal views.

In November, Burns weighed in on another post  from Libs of TikTok, highlighting a mandatory classroom assignment at Piedmont High School that graded students on their attitudes about immigration with right and wrong answers.

Burns, a graduate of the school, told the Carolina Journal in December that he had been in communication with concerned parents and had taken the matter directly to school officials.

“I reached out and spoke to someone directly with UCPS administration. They were floored also,” Burns said.

“This is not something that they want to be remembered or known for at all, and that it was going to be investigated, is what I was told,” he added.

He said he hoped to urge the General Assembly to strengthen SB49 and, particularly, to extend its protections beyond elementary schools to address indoctrination issues among older students.

The primary election for 2028 is set for March 7, 2028, and will be part of “Super Tuesday,” which will include presidential, state, and local contests.