Two Republicans hope to gain their party’s nomination to represent District 92 in the state House. It’s a district that begins near Lake Norman and stretches southward to Lake Wylie, hugging the western boundary of Mecklenburg County along the way.

“It’s pretty evenly split between Republicans and Democrats,” said Charles Jeter, one of the two candidates. “It’s potentially a bellwether district for 2012.”

Indeed, voters in the district tend to have an independent streak. Registered Democrats make up 36 percent of the district, with 34 percent of the voters being registered Republicans. Another 29 percent are registered unaffiliated.

Democratic President Barack Obama won the district in 2008 over Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain by a 53 percent to 46 percent vote. That same year, then GOP Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory won the district over Democrat Bev Perdue 58 percent to 41 percent in the race for governor.

Tom Davis, Jeter’s opponent in the May 8 GOP primary, is a strategic consultant who has worked with Yellow Roadway Corp. Davis started to run for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education last year. He said the local public schools are in a mess, with students leaving the school system.

Davis decided to drop his school board bid when the General Assembly enacted the new legislative maps and run for state House.

“I feel like if we can get to Raleigh, we can reform education at the state level,” Davis said. “If you don’t have an educated work force, we’re not going to be able to fill the jobs that come here.”

Davis wants to divide Mecklenburg County’s public schools into three systems. One would be in the northern part of the county and include the Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius, and Mountain Island Lake areas. Another would be in the southern part of the county and include the Matthews, Mint Hill, Pineville, Mint Hill, and Steele Creek areas. Charlotte would make up the third, central Mecklenburg County school district.

Jeter, who is in his fourth term on the Huntersville Town Board of Commissioners, owns a trucking and logistics company.

Both say that the No. 1 issue is jobs.

Jeter said education reform and expanding opportunities at the state port in Wilmington are keys to North Carolina’s economic growth.

“We need to reform our education system to include vocational training, to allow more flexibility at the local level,” Jeter said. “If we keep teaching to a test, or try to get these kids to memorize stuff for a Friday test, we’ve failed.”

Jeter also said that the port in Wilmington presents a unique asset for economic growth as a middle-Atlantic seaport. He said it has advantages over Charleston, S.C., where the harbor depth is just 43 feet, and Savannah, Ga., which he noted was a bit inland, up the Savannah River from the coast.

“I think the government does have a role when it comes to creating infrastructure to expand economic opportunity,” Jeter said.

While noting that Wilmington is quite a ways from the 92nd House District in Mecklenburg County, Jeter said that expanding the port would create economic opportunity statewide. “What’s good for the state usually is good for your district,” Jeter said.

Jeter said that while he’s a “strong Christian” and plans to vote for Amendment One, he’s not concentrating on social issues. “I’m running for fiscal reasons, not social reasons,” he said.

Davis said that having a prepared workforce is a key to getting industry to come to North Carolina.

“If you don’t have a prepared workforce, there’s no use coming here,” Davis said. He said if we recruit companies to the state from Japan or Germany, they would want to find people with science, engineering and math backgrounds.

Davis calls for a full audit of the Department of Public Instruction to see what processes add value.

The winner of the May 8 GOP primary will face Democrat Robin Bradford of Huntersville in the November general election.