Dare County Commissioners Warren Judge and Beverly Boswell are vying for the open House District 6 seat vacated by state Rep. Paul Tine of Kitty Hawk, who had been the only unaffiliated representative in the House. Tine said he would not seek re-election because he wished to spend more time with his family.

Judge, a Democrat, is about to complete his 16th year on the county commission, where he has served 11 years as chairman. While he was happy on the board, he decided this election cycle he would run to represent the wishes of his people in Raleigh. As a commissioner, he said, he has worked extensively with the General Assembly, and even with Congress on occasion.

Boswell, a Republican, began her political career in 2013, when she was defeated in a run for the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners. She ran the next year and won a seat on the Dare County board. She is now running midterm for higher office.

District 6 takes in Dare, Hyde, Washington, and portions of Beaufort counties. The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, which tracks state elections, labeled the district competitive based on its conventional voting behavior. Forty-two percent of the district’s voters are registered as Democrats, 28.6 percent Republicans, and 29 percent unaffiliated.

Judge said running the Sands Restaurant in Nags Head has exposed him to the challenges facing small businesses. Boswell said she gained her insights growing up in an agricultural family and then working in the health care field.

Boswell said the Democrats are trying to undo all the tax, regulatory, and welfare reforms her party has made. She would rather have government continue to tighten its belt. Judge, however, sees Republicans and Democrats dividing mostly over urban issues that don’t apply to the 6th District.

Education is the most important issue for Judge. Since assuming the legislative majority, the Republican-led General Assembly has added $2 billion to education spending — to a level 13 percent higher than at any time before. But Judge claimed that in spite of all of the “sound bites, chest beating, hand wringing, and political speak,” cuts to education funding have not been restored in Northeastern North Carolina.

Judge said he knows the legislature has not prioritized education funding because he has witnessed it every year he had to make the county budget work. He said he understands the burden of unfunded mandates. In many ways, he believes Northeastern North Carolina is not getting its “fair share” of state funding and services.

Another opportunity Judge sees for helping constituents would be to reform economic incentive programs to boost rural areas like those in District 6 that are unlikely to attract big companies. “Businesses here are going to create only eight to 10 jobs, so they’re going to miss the bar.”

The district is also largely agricultural. “We have great farms, but even the big, huge farms don’t employ that many,” Judge said.

“So, we need to figure out incentive programs that will keep people from selling out, incentives for young people to go to university agricultural programs to learn about the technology of tomorrow,” he said.

Because fishing and ecotourism are two important industries, keeping the coastline clean is important, Judge said. He is opposed to drilling for offshore oil, and other activities that would compromise the environment. He also would promote better transportation infrastructure maintenance, including ferry upkeep.

Boswell said she would use the U.S. Constitution as a touchstone for her legislative decisions. She is passionate about the Second Amendment, saying everyone in her family owns firearms. She comes from a family of hunters, most of whom have concealed carry permits.

Boswell advocates for deregulation, with special focus on the Marine Fisheries Commission. She said fishermen ask questions such as, “‘Why do I need someone to sit on my boat with me?’ or ‘Why do I have to take my catch to Morehead?’” Regulations such as limitations on fishing days, she said, are “based on poor science and knee-jerk reactions.”

She loves marine life, but said regulations to preserve turtles are driving families out of the fishing business and are “over the top.”

Boswell does, however, welcome government consultation services for business, such as through SCORE and programs available through N.C. State University. She said they could help revive local agriculture and leverage “new trends in consumer preference” to grow a local food industry.

“Common Core is rotten to the core,” and is a violation of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, she said. Its math programs don’t teach pragmatic skills, and they provide poor assessment tools. “The problem of teacher pay,” she said, “hasn’t been solved yet, but we are heading in the right direction.”

She said the state could help the local economy by expanding the community college system to offer pragmatic programs of study “like HVAC or small boat construction and repair.” It could also help by maintaining appropriate transportation infrastructure, she said.

Boswell is pro-life and opposes Obamacare. She supports House Bill 2 and says its actual language and impact have been distorted by the media. The legislation requires people to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers matching the gender on their birth certificates.