RALEIGH – Nine Republicans are seeking to succeed 15-term 6th District Congressman Howard Coble in the U.S. House.

The winner of the May 6 GOP primary – and possible July 15 runoff if no candidate gets at least 40 percent of the vote – will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the November general election. The 6th Congressional District is considered a strong Republican district by the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation.

The nine Republican candidates are Phil Berger Jr., Mike Causey, Kenn Kopf, Zach Matheny, Jeff Phillips, Charlie Sutherland, Bruce VonCannon, Mark Walker, and Don Webb.

Five of the candidates are featured in this report. The remaining four are profiled in a separate article.

Charlie Sutherland

Sutherland is a veteran and the owner of Charlie’s Soap. He calls himself a “conservative, gun-owning conservationist.”

Sutherland lists abuses of the Internal Revenue Service as the top issue in the campaign.

“We need to do something about it to give power back to the people,” Sutherland said, adding that in the past Congress has merely tweaked it. “They’ve got 70,000 pages of IRS code, and I’m sure it’s not equally handed out to all taxpayers.” He said the IRS has been chipping away at our freedom for a century.

Sutherland supports the fair tax, which would replace the personal income tax with a national sales tax. He sees that as a means to boost the economy. “Companies overseas holding their money will be running over here,” Sutherland said. “Our economy will boom.”

On Obamacare, Sutherland said he thinks the program will just fail. “Give people a chance for their own health savings account,” he said. He said Obamacare would fail without an IRS to enforce certain mandates.

Sutherland also doesn’t like revelations of data collections by the National Security Agency. “I don’t like spying on me or anybody else for that reason, unless there’s a crime that has been committed,” Sutherland said. On NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Sutherland said, “He certainly was an opportunist. … Somebody needed to blow the whistle.”

On the national debt and budget deficit, Sutherland said that the fat has to be cut from somewhere. “I think we should shut down the government,” he said. “Nothing happened [during the October 2013 shutdown]. I didn’t feel it. Sutherland said he’d like to keep the military running and the borders closed.

Sutherland said he thinks President Obama is being overreaching in his executive orders. “But I think that our House leadership could have nipped that in the bud rapidly.”

He supports the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking, and offshore drilling, but also supports studies to find out how to best alleviate oil spills and other environmental damage. Sutherland also supports vouchers as a measure for choice in education.

Bruce VonCannon

VonCannon is a retired international banker who has worked in numerous places, including Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. “I retired last year,” he said. “I came home.

He lists the economy and broken politics among the top issues of the campaign. “We have to have a better dialogue in Washington,” VonCannon said. “We have a president calling Republicans inflexible, and then refuses to negotiate.”

VonCannon said that the government can’t properly launch a website, and that the nation’s tax rates are making us less competitive as a nation.

One solution VonCannon supports is a flat income tax rate. “A flat tax doesn’t punish people that work hard,” VonCannon said. “A flat tax eliminates loopholes that favor special interest groups.” He said that the current system punishes people who save money and rewards people who borrow money.

“The second issue on the economic front to me is the spiraling debt,” VonCannon said. “We have to control spending.” Entitlement programs have to be reformed to bring spending under control, he said.

VonCannon said that there’d be unanimity in opposition to Obamacare by the Republicans seeking the seat. He said he liked some of the elements of a bill sponsored by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. “He has this view of portable mandates,” VonCannon said. He supports tort reform to cut down on excessive malpractice awards, leading to less expensive medical care.

On the NSA revelations, VonCannon said he’s “very thankful that we have intelligence agencies to help protect us at home and abroad.” He said he didn’t think it was OK for the NSA to listen to conversations without a warrant. His opinion on NSA whistleblower Snowden: “I think he’s a traitor of this country,” VonCannon said.

To attack the national debt, VonCannon said Congress must reform entitlements. “It’s an unsustainable tract,” he said.

On Obama’s executive orders, VonCannon said that power has been building up in the executive branch since the days of President Ford. “I think we go through these cycles,” VonCannon said.

Don Webb

Webb, a financial adviser, is a retired Navy officer and a U.S. Naval Academy grad.

“I think we’ve got a leadership problem,” Webb said of the campaign’s top issue. “It’s not just with our president, it’s also with our party.” He said that U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been ineffective and should be fired.

“They’ve caved in time and time again without making our point and without making progress,” Webb said of the GOP leadership in Washington.

Webb said that the federal government is strangling businesses and the economy. “Congress should be getting out of the way,” Webb said. “We should let free enterprise be free.” He also supports a one-year moratorium on any tax for companies that have been headquartered overseas to come back to the United States.

Webb pushes securing the border. “There’s a drag on our economy on illegal immigrants here,” Webb said. “We don’t have an immigration problem. We have an illegal immigration problem.” Webb said that illegal immigrants didn’t get here by accident. “They didn’t take a wrong turn; they defied our laws,” he said. Webb also said he would support a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.

Web thinks Obamacare should be repealed. “It should not be replaced; it should not be revised,” Webb said. “It was never about health care quality. It was a grab by the federal government for control.”

Webb said the NSA has exceeded its power in the collection of data. “I don’t believe we should be storing records on every citizen in case we might need them,” Webb said. “That’s like saying we can inspect every car for guns when we don’t have probable cause.” He also thinks that Snowden likely broke the law in the way he exposed the NSA actions.

Ken Kopf

Kopf is an attorney and an Air Force veteran. He did not respond to requests for an interview.

His Web page lists jobs and the economy as the top issue in the campaign. He supports moving to a flat tax, re-evaluating entitlement spending programs, and tax incentives for creating manufacturing plants. He also supports a comprehensive immigration program that would secure the border and require noncitizens in the United States illegally to register every year, obtain an valid Social Security number, and pay a fine.

Kopf also would repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms including tort reform, allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines, and requiring insurers to accept all pre-existing conditions.

He also supports a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Mark Walker

Walker is an ordained minister and a lecturer at Liberty University. He did not respond to requests for an interview.

According to his Web page, Walker supports reducing government regulations and the corporate tax rate as a means of boosting the economy. He also supports changing from the current individual income tax code to either a flat tax rate, or the fair tax, a national sales tax.

Walker backs repealing Obamacare and establishing a plan that promotes markets across state lines, tort reform, and free markets.

Walker also supports securing the border as a means of controlling illegal immigration and terrorism.

Barry Smith (@Barry_Smith) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.