Here are the candidates for North Carolina governor on the 2024 primary ballot

With early voting polls opening in less than a month, the North Carolina governor's race is heating up. Gov. Roy Cooper is finishing his last eligible term in office, and there are several candidates hoping to fill his spot.

Here's a look at the candidates on the ballot for the March 5 primary election.

Republican candidates

Dale Folwell

• Hometown: Winston-Salem

• Current profession: Serving in his second term as state treasurer

• Previous experience: Folwell served as the state treasurer for two terms. He served four terms in the House of Representatives for the 74th district (one term as the Speaker Pro Tempore). He has also served as a member of Winston-Salem's Board of Education and as assistant secretary of commerce

• Notable endorsements: The political action committee that represents the State Employees Association of North Carolina, which advocates for working families.

• Accomplishments: His pension plan was rated a top-five highest funded plan in the country. He also maintained North Carolina's AAA bond rating, the highest rating possible. His team won the Sunshine Award in 2022, an award that recognizes an office's fulfillment of public records requests denoting transparency with the public.

• Key issues: Folwell intends to invest in public safety, especially in prevention of drug and human trafficking and endorsing the death penalty. He cares about lowering the cost of living for North Carolinians specifically by lowering healthcare costs.

Bill Graham

• Hometown: Salisbury

• Current profession: Attorney in personal injury and wrongful death and partner at Wallace and Graham, businessman

• Previous experience: Graham served as secretary of the Board of Directors for the Jesse Helms Center. He also served on the U.S. Agriculture Committee, and was the Secretary for Cabarrus County Board of Elections.

• Notable endorsements: U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis

• Accomplishments: Graham rallied hundreds of North Carolinians and garnered around 70,000 petition signatures to protest the gas tax in 2006.

• Key issues: Graham wants to end "woke" curriculum in schools by creating a Parents Board of Education in which parents review all curriculum. He endorses the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers, and has a special focus on putting away key players in the fentanyl crisis. Part of his campaign focuses on making it illegal for Chinese entities to buy land in North Carolina due to a lawsuit he was a part of in which they allegedly dumped toxic chemicals in NC. Graham believes in reducing taxes including the local food tax and state income tax on overtime.

Mark Robinson

• Hometown: Greensboro

• Current profession: Lieutenant governor of North Carolina

• Previous experience: Army veteran, small business owner and manufacturing worker

• Notable endorsements: Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger. Donald Trump has said he would eventually make an official endorsement of Robinson.

• Accomplishments: Garnered millions of views for his speech at a city council meeting where he advocated for gun rights.

• Key issues: Robinson has run on conservative values such as being anti-abortion, protecting gun rights and giving parents more of a say in education. Additionally, in his run for governor, Robinson has expressed his commitment to re-building and incentivizing police officers and lowering the price of gas, groceries and childcare.

Democratic candidates

Michael (Mike) Morgan

• Hometown: Raleigh

• Current profession: Morgan stepped down from his position as Supreme Court associate justice in September to run for governor.

• Previous experience: Morgan has more than 30 years of experience on the bench in North Carolina, including roles on the North Carolina Superior Court bench and the North Carolina Supreme Court.

• Notable endorsements: none

• Accomplishments: He has served in state government for 44 years.

• Key issues: Morgan's campaign stands on his values including fair pay for educators, autonomy in healthcare choices (including abortion and gender affirming care), decreasing racial inequalities in healthcare, making prescription drug prices affordable, supporting green energy efforts that protect North Carolina from the effects of climate change and upholding voting rights and accurate representation in redistricting cases.

Josh Stein

• Hometown: Raleigh

• Current profession: North Carolina attorney general currently serving in his second term.

• Previous experience: Stein served in the North Carolina Senate for District 16 and as the senior deputy attorney general in the North Carolina Department of Justice.

• Notable endorsements: Gov. Roy Cooper, Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic and the People's Alliance PAC

• Accomplishments: As attorney general, Stein stopped the rape kit backlog in North Carolina, collected billions from the pharmaceutical industry for their part in the opioid crisis, sued Juul, an electronic cigarette company, for targeting youth in their marketing and held companies financially accountable for pollution and pollution clean-up.

• Key issues: Stein's campaign focuses heavily on making North Carolina safer through supporting the police and working to tackle the opioid crisis. He hopes to protect fundamental freedoms like the right to vote and the right to abortion.

Marcus Williams

• Hometown: Lumberton

• Current profession: Attorney at Marcus Williams Attorney at Law

• Previous experience: Has been practicing law for 45 years, assistant public defender for District 16B North Carolina.

• Notable endorsements: Has chosen not to seek endorsements.

• Accomplishments: Williams has led community economic development projects including building 79 units of housing for elderly and handicapped people and leading the effort to restore an inner-city school.

• Key issues: Fully fund the public school system, protect women's right to decide on medical care decisions, create housing, increase salary for law enforcement and create a panel where citizens can review police cameras in specific cases.

Chrelle Booker

• Hometown: Tryon

• Current profession: Mayor Pro Tempore of Tryon and legal department and human resources manager in television broadcasting.

• Previous experience: Booker has served as the national president of Women in Municipal Government and as a board member of the National League of Cities. She has chaired the Information Technology & Communications Committee and was a member of the Legislative Action Committee and Small Cities Council.

• Notable endorsements: Has chosen not to accept endorsements.

• Accomplishments: In 2020, Booker became a Selective Service System Local Board Member for Region II for a 20-year term. In 2021, she helped NLC’s Transportation and Infrastructure Services Committee present the town of Tryon’s water and sewer infrastructure issues to the Biden-Harris Administration's Ready-To-Rebuild project.

• Key issues: Housing, employment, healthcare, education, air and water quality, women's empowerment, and the protection of trees.

Gary Foxx

• Hometown: Edgecombe County

• Current profession: Law Enforcement veteran

• Previous experience: Chief of police

• Notable endorsements: none

• Key issues: Increase funding for public schools, enact "common sense" gun reform, increase the minimum wage, support small businesses and attract new business, protect Medicaid and Medicare, reduce North Carolina's carbon footprint and promote diversity.

Libertarian candidates

Shannon Bray

• Hometown: Holly Springs

• Current profession: Technology entrepreneur

• Previous experience: Bray served in the Navy and has run for the North Carolina Senate in 2022 and the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2019.

• Notable endorsements: None

• Key issues: Bray hopes to protect parents' roles in their children's education, decriminalize marijuana, support military families and implement ranked-choice voting.

Mike Ross

• Hometown: Gaston County

• Current profession: Owns "My Money Coach," a financial advice business.

• Previous experience: Ross is a certified financial planner who has worked as a financial adviser and planner for several different companies.

• Notable endorsements: None

• Key issues: Ross hopes that every bill introduced in the legislature is first shown to and open for public comment. He also wants to increase the funding for police, remove the government from doctor-patient decisions and introduce a 'free market' education system where parents decide what children learn, not the government.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Who is running for NC governor in the 2024 primary election?