Republican Cathy Dunn and Democrat Jim Beall Graham are vying for an open seat in state Senate District 33, and both candidates are confident they can improve the lives of people in Davidson and Montgomery counties.

Longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Stan Bingham did not seek re-election in a district the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation rated strong Republican based on its conventional voting behavior since 2008. The district is 44 percent Republican, 31 percent Democrat, and 24.6 percent unaffiliated.

Dunn and Graham agree on the need for a strong education system, expanding emergency and law enforcement resources, and improving economic development.

But they disagree on issues such as redrawing legislative districts, and the controversial House Bill 2, which requires people to use public restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities corresponding to their birth gender.

Dunn said she supports the bill, which sparked a statewide civil liberties battle and has resulted in some companies sidestepping expansion or relocation to North Carolina.

“I have moral values, and I stand by Governor McCrory,” said Dunn, a businesswoman for 38 years, former owner of the Biscuit King franchise, and a former Davidson County Commissioner.

Graham said, “I see the H.B. 2 as a job killer, an economic killer, a bill that needs to be repealed.”

Graham said he favors a nonpartisan method of legislative line drawing. Dunn does not.

“It should be the job of the lawmakers,” said Dunn. “They are more familiar with the process, and they should be the ones to do it.”

Over the past year, the 66-year-old Dunn said she met with Bingham at least once a week to help prepare to fill his seat. She said she couldn’t have gained a better foundation.

“He’s a good man. I admire him, and would like to follow his footsteps,” said Dunn. “I am ready to work. I am ready to get busy.”

Graham, 71, is a former member of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, former president of the Central North Carolina Land Trust, and the North Carolina Farm Bureau.

“I am a problemsolver. I embrace Republicans and Democrats,” said Graham. “One of my goals is to get the economy cranked up and functioning as a highly productive state.”

People are productive, Graham said. “We just got to get the state government out of their way.”

Dunn said a establishing a county-run worker-training facility would be one way to bring in major new employers.

“When you have an industry coming in, one of their first questions is, ‘Do you have a trained work force?’” Dunn said.

Graham ran a dairy farm for 42 years and now raises corn, soybeans, and wheat.

“You learn to work. You learn values that will follow you for the rest of your life. You have a job to do, and you have to do it,” said Dunn, who grew up on a dairy farm.

Dunn lives by the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“Things are just not like they used to be,” said Dunn. “We have lost of lot of manners and respect over the past two decades. We need to get our core values back and teach our children these things.”

Graham likes to refer to the Law of Liberty in the Book of James.

“Being a good citizen is Christ’s message to us,” he said.  “The Law of Liberty means you have freedom, but with that freedom come responsibility.”

Both agree on offering parents school choice.

“The focus should be on teachers teaching the students,” said Graham. “National guidelines are a waste of time especially for all the testing.”

Graham said he wants to re-establish a police cadet program “so that high school students can develop a relationship with older police officers. Police should be more visible and have a better relationship in the communities they serve.” It could encourage some high school students to attend community college in the hope of becoming police officers.

Graham has been married for 42 years. He has three children and six grandchildren.

Dunn is married. She has a son and a granddaughter.