Editorial Board
North Carolina’s state House District 10 encompasses part of Wayne County and includes the city of Goldsboro. Republican John Bell has represented the district since 2013 and is running for reelection this year against Democrat Zyaire Webb, a Wayne County native.
Webb’s campaign focuses on affordability and education. One of his primary goals is to raise the minimum wage in the state, which still sits at $7.25 an hour, the lowest wage required to comply with federal law. North Carolinians, much like the rest of the country, are dealing with a cost of living crisis.
Webb also advocates heavily for increased investment in our public schools, pointing to the $600 million that’s been funneled out of public school funding for the state and into the private school voucher program. Webb has pushed for higher salaries for teachers in Wayne County, citing North Carolina’s ranking at 44th in the nation for teacher salaries and work environments.
While Webb does not have experience in an elected role, he was born and raised in Wayne County and says he was determined to run for office after watching the current administration “put themselves and big money ahead of the hard-working people.”
Webb’s lack of legislative experience may be a positive for his campaign in this race, considering Republican John Bell’s poor record for his district.
Bell is one of the most powerful legislators in the state, chairing the House Rules committee, which decides what legislation may get passed or die in the state House.
Bell voted to override the Governor’s veto of House Bill 10 in 2024. While the bill dealt with immigration enforcement, it also included the expansion of the private school voucher program in the state. Legislators had originally introduced private school voucher expansion in another bill, but folded the policies into House Bill 10 after negotiations stalled.
In expanding private school vouchers, legislators diverted money meant to fund public schools into the voucher program. House Bill 10 alone took over $4 million in public school funding from Wayne County schools.
Bell also voted for the legislation that removed the income cap from the private school voucher program, meaning that even millionaires – people who can afford to pay out of pocket for private schools – can receive the vouchers and have their child’s private school education paid for by the taxpayers with the money they removed from public schools.
Bell has also voted against free school lunches for North Carolina school children as well as establishing a dedicated grant program to fix HVAC systems in public schools.
In terms of affordability, Bell’s record does not look much better. Bell voted against an amendment to the state budget that would have raised the minimum wage, and he voted in favor of Senate Bill 266, which allowed Duke Energy to raise its rates for customers, at a time when it is pulling in record profits. From 2020 to 2025, Duke Energy raised rates so much that customers using the same amount of power every month were paying 45% more than they paid for the same power in 2020.
It’s no shock that Bell supported Senate Bill 266; over his many years in office, Bell’s campaign has taken several thousand dollars in contributions from Duke Energy.
Other notable contributions to Bell’s campaign include multiple contributions over the years from Kirk Bradley, a prominent data center developer. Bradley’s company, Eco TIP, sued Chatham County earlier this year, seeking to overturn the county’s moratorium on data center development. Bradley’s most recent contribution to Bell’s campaign was a $3,400 contribution in April of this year.
In the most recent state budget, Bell voted to preserve tax breaks for data centers, including one that is expected to cost the state billions of dollars in tax revenue over the coming years.
Around the same time, Bell’s campaign also received a $4,000 contribution from Robert Huckabee, a major donor with interest in expanding gambling in the state.
Generally, most of Bell’s campaign contributions are from special interest groups.
Early voting is ongoing and ends at 3 pm on Saturday, October 31st. You can still register or update your voter registration during the early voting period.
Election Day is November 3rd.
