Millennial Democrat Joe Parrish is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Larry Yarborough, a Baby Boomer, in House District 2. The candidates are sparring over jobs, education, and health-care issues as they vie to represent residents of Granville and Person counties.

“This a great place to raise a family,” said Yarborough, 54. “But our rural community needs great jobs for our young people. There’s just not enough opportunity here, and I know our young people have to go elsewhere.”

Parrish, 24, who considers himself a “progressive Democrat,” agrees people are leaving Person County for better opportunities.

“We have a declining youth population,” Parrish said.

The North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation, which tracks state elections, rates House District 2 as competitive based on conventional voting behavior since 2008. The makeup of the district breaks down like this: 46.8 percent Democrat, 26.3 percent Republican, and 26.5 percent unaffiliated.

Tax cuts, Yarborough said, have helped to spur the economy, and state revenue has exceeded expectations, with surpluses the past couple of years. Most of the money has gone to education; that allocation has increased by $1.5 billion since 2011, he said.

Still, Parrish said, education isn’t funded adequately. He said the budget needs to grow so more money can go toward education.

“He’s been bragging about teachers’ pay going up,” said Parrish. “But I have talked with teachers, and they are still paying out of their pockets” to operate their classrooms, Parrish said. “There are a shortage of supplies and a shortage of manpower.”

Yarborough said a number of reform programs are in the works.

“We are looking at ways to identify and reward teachers in the classroom,” Yarborough said.

Failing public schools, the candidates agree, is a huge issue for North Carolina.

“Some of the schools here are fine, but there are some that are lacking and not performing well,” said Parrish.

Yarborough said giving parents a choice in the children’s education is the best means of achieving quality schools.

“Another program that I am in favor of allows parents who have children in failing schools to send their child to a better school,” Yarborough said.

Yarborough supports community colleges and says those schools are especially important to Granville and Person counties.

“They provide opportunities for those who can’t afford to go to big universities,” he said.

Said Parrish, “We need to go back to having a society like Eisenhower in the ’50’s.

“We were a large powerhouse in the ’50’s, investing in math and science and leading the world in technology,” Parrish said. “As we become a more globalized world, we need people to speak other languages, which will require education.”

Having served in the House of Representatives since 2014, Yarborough, a Roxboro businessman, says he’s more qualified to represent the district and has collected a variety of life experiences. He said he is always “looking for common-sense solutions.”

“I am by far the most experienced,” said Yarborough, who holds a degree in chemical engineering. “I know how to build things. I hired people and helped to create jobs in small businesses.”

As a child growing up in Person County, Parrish said it was always a dream to run for public office.

“I’m probably not gonna win,” said Parrish. “I’m not well known. When you are a fresh face, and you don’t have a lot of money to your name — and I certainly don’t have a lot of friends with a lot of money” — it can be an electoral disadvantage.

But Parrish said running for a legislative seat provides him with a platform to express his ideas.

“I need to make sure I have my say,” said Parrish.

Yarborough said his work as a legislator includes efforts to improve rural health care, and he wants to continue helping his district.

Yarborough is against tax credits for special interests and says tax policy should allow people to keep as much of their money as possible.

Parrish graduated from Person High School. A former National Guard private first class, he has a degree in political science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and resides in Timberlake.

Yarborough has been married to his wife Kimmie, a physician, for 26 years. They have three children.