WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Election Day is still more than four months away, but the campaign trail is heating up for the candidates running to be the next governor of North Carolina.

Republican Nominee Mark Robinson and Democratic Nominee Josh Stein each spoke at a Power Breakfast event Thursday morning hosted by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal at the Wilmington Convention Center.

While the two candidates did not share the stage, each was given the opportunity to present a 10-minute opening speech before spending roughly 20 minutes taking questions from the audience.

Stein went first and discussed his accomplishments as attorney general, a position he has held since 2017. During his remarks, Stein expressed his vision for the state.

“We have to remain focused on the fundamentals,” Stein said. “Strong public schools, good infrastructure, accessible and affordable health care, and safe communities. And we have to steer clear of the job killing culture wars.”

Stein directly called out Robinson by saying the Republican’s vision “is one of division and hate.” Robinson did not spend mention Stein by name during his remarks, but did comment on what Robinson thought was Stein’s poor record as attorney general.

During his speech, Robinson walked the crowd through his plans to improve education and the economy.

“Our economy is built on pillars,” Robinson said. “What are those pillars? It’s public safety, public education, health care, infrastructure, and housing. If you don’t have any of those five things, you can’t have a healthy economy.”

Robinson has served as the state’s lieutenant governor since 2021.

“We are living in a time right now where you can go on your phone right now, order something on Amazon, and by the time you get home, it’s there,” Robinson said. “I believe the state government needs to start working towards being just that fast and efficient.”

Members of the audience asked Stein about healthcare costs, infrastructure, division in politics, and the state’s minimum wage.

“We need to be focused on getting more money on the revenue side,” said Stein. “And then we have to do everything we can to control costs. The first question was about healthcare, what can we do to try to keep healthcare costs down, hospital prices, drug prices. Those are things that we can work on as a policy level as a state.”

Robinson was asked about workforce development, teacher pay, his comments on harmful materials in public school classrooms, and affordable housing.

“We need to get back to classical education, folks,” said Robinson. “Teaching our children to read and write and do mathematics. We need to start teaching them history and civics and financial literacy. We need to get back to teaching our children to be proud to be Americans again.”

Even though the election is still months away, Stein acknowledged that the campaign trail is going to be tough.

“I won’t sugarcoat it, it’s going to be a tough race,” said Stein. “It’s going to be a hard-fought race.”

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