[suspenseful music] - Welcome Republican nominee for Secretary of State, Chad Brown to the set.

Mr. Brown, thanks for joining us, making that long drive from Gaston County.

- Well, thank you for having me today.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Republican primary voters might remember you from 2020 when you ran a statewide race and that GOP primary for Secretary of State, but for all the new people who've arrived and folks who didn't vote in that primary, who are you?

- Well, I'm Chad Brown.

I'm chairman of the Gaston County Commission.

I have been there for the past 14 years as a Gaston County Commissioner.

Before that, I was a mayor of Stanley, North Carolina.

So I cut my teeth in politics, small town, local politics, trying to get ready for what I want to do in life and that's try to help people and promote a robust economy throughout North Carolina.

So that's how we got into the Secretary of State race.

Before that, I was a professional baseball player for 11 years, and I've been in the business sector for the last 20.

So just cutting my teeth around the state and trying to figure out how we can meet people and find out what's going wrong in North Carolina and how we can have a solution for it.

- I wanna split up your leadership at the local level, beginning with being mayor of Stanley, North Carolina.

That's an executive position.

What did you learn from that role running a small town and do the skills scale or how do you see yourself broadening as an executive?

- I think as a small town, you really had some chances to make some mistakes, that you had some oversight with some people who could help you with really good guidance.

As you got out further into that, I'll never forget my very first day there, I made a mistake on who waters the flowers.

And so when you think about that, a small scale, now all of a sudden you get to local politics as a county level, as chairman, you know, you try to figure out things and how to make the best impact on a county.

As you look, we've cut taxes over 30 and a half cents, since I've been there.

And that's been a big boost of what's happening in Gaston County.

But the biggest thing we do there is economic development.

And that's part of why I wanna take to the Secretary of State's office and try to engage in that facet of business.

- What have you learned most about being a commissioner on a board of commissioners and then elevating yourself up to be selected chairman?

- Well, I think when you work with seven people every day to try to figure out a common goal, that there's how you get good governance of what's happening, get a good feel for it, having a good staff also is a big part of that.

When you have a good staff, and I've been a part of staff that have been difference of opinion.

And when you have what my goals and my faith and I look at as how I guide myself as values, that's how you find, but when you become the chairman of the board, you have a lot of responsibility that's happening.

So you basically are guiding those other people along with you to have a common goal, but also you have to lead a county to make sure that you're doing the right thing and keeping the fiduciary responsibilities at hand.

- I've interviewed a hundred state legislators and all these Council of State members in years past.

And in your experience politically clearly slots for a variety of offices.

You could have run for State House, U.S. House, State Senate, yet you're going for Secretary of State the second time now.

What about that particular role has kept your attention?

- Well, I think the biggest part when you talk about the legislature's influence on myself, I have a great mentorship there in Gaston County, also surrounding counties, Lincoln County, Jason Saine was a big mentor to me.

So when you get to see about those things and how they happen, it makes a difference.

But why I wanna stay here with Secretary of State, because the business aspect, I wanna build this and I wanna make sure that people understand that Secretary of State plays a big role in what's happening in business and small business is a backbone of what we do and I wanna make sure we take care of those people.

- For folks who don't follow Council of State very closely and their civics even less, what should they expect out of a Secretary of State's office?

Not a Secretary of State or a politician, but as an office, as a body, as it fits into North Carolina government?

- Well, I think you have to look at, it's more than a government official.

It's a dedicated public servant to one particular aspect.

You're doing the recordkeeping of the General Assembly.

You're also making sure that you have the administrative duties of what's happening.

So businesses, LLCs, S-corps, the governance over who is a lobbyist.

Sports agents for instance, is a small one, but you also have securities destinations that you have to take care of.

So there's many different facets inside the office to say that one overwhelms another.

I think the purveyance of the business of North Carolina is the biggest part of that.

- You're running as an alternative candidate to the incumbent as the way elections go.

So what are North Carolinians not receiving from the Secretary of State's office that they would be receiving or you would like to see them receive under your administration?

- I think building a robust economy, being involved.

I think also the technological part that's maybe outran some of the ways and means that we're doing right now inside the office.

It's cumbersome when you have to go and it's a 16-week process to open up a small business.

We should be able to streamline that and try to figure out how we can work hand-in-glove with you to make that small business go.

You shouldn't be able to pay a small price to have it expedited.

You should be able to do that.

If we can expedite it now, you should be able to expedite it when it starts.

- From your perspective as a candidate, do delays for small business creation to go through the Secretary of State's office?

Does that problem fall with the staff that's in place there, in the employees, or is the system over time just grown bloated?

So they're following the process, it just happens to be slow.

- Well, I think the employees inside are doing all they can do, and I know there's been a work ethic need that has to be kind of a sense of urgency I think is also needed there.

Not saying that these people, because those people do a tremendous job, but what they have in the workload, I think the other part of that is we gotta have different offices across the state to be able to have that.

We need to have one in a regional area, such as in the West, we need to have one down east, because these people are driving, you know, six to 10 hours to get to meet with the Secretary of State or someone in the office.

And when you do that, you have cumbersome days that need to be taken care of.

And whether I's dot or a T is crossed, those things need to come back and be able to be settled at an exponential time.

So when we do these things and we're trying to fix 'em, they need to be fixed in person, but we need to have different places so they can do that.

- From your perspective in business down in Gaston County, how well does Raleigh in general serve the outlying areas once you get, say outside the triad, 120 miles from that radius around the triangle area?

- I think as you look at myself as a candidate, I'm the only person really from the west, so to speak.

As you look at it as a western type of, I don't think Charlotte and Gaston County is too much west, it's more of the middle of the state.

But when you look at it, Raleigh does not really surface outside of Raleigh for the people from that area.

And Charlotte basically takes over that cumbersome area.

- What kinda leader are you, not only for the North Carolinians, who you would serve, but for the people, the hundreds of people who would work for you on a day-to-day basis?

What's your style?

- I think the work ethic is where I'm gonna start.

And the reason being, I wanna be hands-on.

I wanna be there, I want to take advice, I wanna listen to what's happening.

And I think when you listen to employees, I have a thing that we've instituted in Gaston County.

We've instituted making sure that we listen to the employees.

We even have a proxy system that gives you maybe some PTO or something for good ideas that's saving money or doing things that are helping time to be able to fix things.

And we've been doing those, we found out that when you work with the employee and you help the employee, their tendency's to be a family and work together become a strong bond.

- How partisan should Secretary of State be once we're outside of the campaign season and once the need to articulate differences in platform and personality?

Is this a role where you could see yourself being outward-facing, making your opinion known on policy?

Or do you look inward and run an efficient department or can you do both?

- I think before March 5th is very partisan, but once you get after that, you know, you have to be able to reach across the aisle, you have to be able to help others.

An entrepreneur doesn't come with a D and R by their name or some other party.

It comes with a work ethic.

It comes with somebody who's striving for the American dream.

And that's what we have to be able to provide.

We have to provide services, but we also have to provide 'em on a basis of whoever you are, your individuality, you come in, we're gonna make sure we strive to help those things and we're gonna become a part of you.

We want just not just for that day, we wanna be generational, that's happening in North Carolina.

I think that's the part we've lost.

We lose as many businesses that close up after we open 'em up.

So we have to be able to get them to the next level of generational wealth.

- How hard has it been to elevate the role, Secretary of State as a candidate to get your brand name out there?

You're running against someone who's been in office since 1997.

They've won in Republican years, they win in Democratic years.

You've picked a mountain to climb.

- We picked that mountain to climb, because we thought it was the one that best suited for what our abilities are.

I think when you look at that and how that's come about, that number has been shrinking every year.

But I think at the end of the day, since 1877 was the last time a Republican held office for a Secretary of State and it was appointed.

So we look at now, you know, our current Secretary of State since 1997, there's some things I think we could add to grow the office to make it more efficient.

But I also think that we can do things to help everyone across the state of North Carolina, because like I said, entrepreneurs, farmers, all the people who are invested in what's going on in North Carolina, we have to invest back with our people and how we're doing it.

So when you ask about the Secretary of State's office and where it's at, it's a hard road.

I'll tell you right now, people look at it, but it's the number fourth or fifth in line of what's happening inside the state and it has a vital role.

But at the end of the day, I wanna be a humble servant.

I wanna make sure that we do the right thing and we help people.

- Some of your policies are gonna need probably legislative support, if not legislation, to get 'em enacted.

So how do you think you'll manage against a House and Senate that are super-majority Republican, but yet have very different ideas about this state on some key issues?

- I think that biggest asset that I will have to bring to the table, obviously being a Republican helps, but also I've worked with those people in the General Assembly, I've worked with the Tim Moore's and the Phil Berger's of life to make sure that we get things done.

We've had lots of financial gains that's happened inside of Gaston County through infrastructure and we've had a role, so much so that Mecklenburg County comes to Gaston County to ask us to provide help with them in things that are going on inside of the legislature.

- And of course there's a much more tight governor's race going on between Josh Stein and Mark Robinson, of course Republican, you're supporting, I would presume Mark Robinson, but working with a Democrat and an Attorney General of two terms, if he's governor versus Mark Robinson, the every man who came from the factories of the triad.

Have you thought about that if you take office?

How do you deal with both of those gentlemen?

- I think as you look at it, you know, whether, let's start first with Mark Robinson, good friend of mine.

We have a baseball card together.

We did a baseball card on [indistinct] before we made one for myself and different people across the state to be able to get that out.

But Mark Robinson is a family man, he's a God-fearing man.

Working with him would be great.

If someone from the other party were to win, I would also be able to cross that aisle to say, "Hey, let's find out where there's some common goals.

Let's find out where the common need for the people, not necessarily what's happening between the Republican or Democrat.

How can we work together to work what's best for North Carolina?"

And at the end of the day, if we can't work what's best for North Carolina, neither one of us needs to be in that job.

- Probably a hundred things you'd like to get done, there are probably two or three that you really wish you could get done if you're elected.

We got one minute left.

What are those three and what can we expect of voters trust you?

- Well, I think the biggest thing is working with the small business community.

I love this, it's my sector dive in.

We've been in Gaston County, we've had the best economic development from overseas coming in to help with that.

Being working hand-in-hand with that, that's the biggest piece I want.

I wanna make sure that we bring good companies to North Carolina.

We wanna make sure the people in North Carolina.

We also wanna build kind of a hub and spoke system.

The hub and spoke system should have where if you're a widget maker and you're gonna do that, you should have to know where these materials come from, how to get to 'em, how to expedite, how to do these things and do it all inside the state.

Put you guys in a silo together and let you guys work together rather than having to go other states or other countries in order to do business.

- All right, Chad Brown, Republican nominee for North Carolina Secretary of State.

You've given us some copious minutes of your time to discuss your platform.

Thank you sir for coming all the way out here from your home base.

Good luck on the campaign trail.

Stay safe out there.

- Thank you so much for having me and a great show.

Appreciate you having me.

- Good to have you.

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