Brad Hessel
Libertarian | North Carolina
Candidate Profile
Leans Liberal
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
Brown University, Providence, RI, BA, 1975
WORK & MILITARY
Intelledgement, LLC, Senior Consultant, 1999-2026
AFFILIATIONS
Capital Area Soccer League, Rec High School Subdivision Coordinator and team coach, 2000-2007
Wake County Libertarian Party, Treasurer, Chair, 2013-2026
Libertarian Party of North Carolina, Executive Director, Information Broker, 2014-2026
Beth Meyer Social Action Committee, member, 2018-2026
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
NC Senate, 2016-2024
NC Senate, 2018-2018
NC Senate, 2016-2016
ENDORSEMENTS
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (1)
North Carolina Forward Party
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)
Dale Folwell (2024)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (0)
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including funds for “family planning,” contraception, or abortion counseling).
Strongly Agree
Government should not be funding any private health services entities.
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
Up to the point where the fetus can safely be extracted and development completed outside the womb (which is a moving target as our tech gets better).
Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.
Strongly Disagree
Prior to the point where the fetus can safely be extracted and development completed outside the womb, pregnant people have dominion over their own bodies.
The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.
Strongly Disagree
Existing Federal laws that prohibit the interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs should be enforced.
Strongly Disagree
ECONOMY
What is your position on the minimum wage?
There should be no minimum wage.
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
Generally, reduce entanglements of state government in as many aspects of the lives of North Carolinians as possible and cut staffing accordingly. Specifically, work to increase choice and reduce government interference in the markets for education and health care and end the practice of picking winners (large politically well-connected enterprises) and losers (entrepreneurs with innovative and potentially competitive ideas and small businesses) in the economy.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
The government should be secular, not favor any religion over any other, and protect the rights of all individuals to practice their chosen religion so long as that practice does not harm anyone else. For example, the government should provide civil unions but stay out of the marriage business, leaving that up to each individual and her/his/their chosen religious institution.
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Strongly Disagree
But as a condition of employment government workers must be willing to provide services to all comers.
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
[D] with the proviso that there would need to be a transition period to honor prior commitments. Ideally, government should focus on ensuring patients have access to accurate pricing and quality ratings for health care services. Any funding should be distributed through individual health savings accounts. But this is largely a Federal-level issue and I am running for State Senate so my opinion is not particularly relevant.
The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.
Strongly Disagree
The government should be protecting individual privacy, not actively working to compromise it.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Disagree
We should have a great relationship with China, as our interests in promoting trade and commerce and dealing with international issues such as space exploration, demographic depopulation, and climate hugely coincide. Also, unlike European countries and Japan, we have historically been a friend to China rather than exploiting or invading them. Everyone on Earth—and potentially off-world humans—would benefit from American-Chinese cooperation. But this is a Federal issue and so not very pertinent.
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
Our relationship with all nations is important. But we should focus on being friendly and conducting commerce with everyone and avoid foreign entanglements such as military alliances/conflicts. But this is a Federal issue and so not very pertinent to the NC Senate.
IMMIGRATION
I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.
Strongly Agree
Individuals have the right to live wherever they want to, so long as they can afford the rent.
EDUCATION
I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.
Strongly Agree
But as an NC Senator, I would have no ability to effect this.
Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.
Strongly Disagree
All contributions gratefully accepted. Our universities have benefitted greatly from foreign students who pay full tuition, although the current administration’s policies are likely to materially attrit that effect.
VALUES
Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's health and educational well-being.
Strongly Agree
Attempts to transition a child to the opposite sex are harmful to that child and should be prohibited.
Strongly Disagree
Depends on the circumstances and parents and medical providers are in the best position to make those decisions for their children.
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Neutral
Per previous answer, this is issue is not within the province of a secular institution. Government should not interfere in religious administration of marriage.
I support the expansion of gambling in my state.
Strongly Agree
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
Tikkun olam. I believe we should strive to leave the world at least as good as we found it, if not better. ”You are not expected to complete the work, but you are not at liberty to ignore it.”
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Neutral
Requiring a photo ID for voting does not strike me as unreasonable. But generally, this being the 21st Century, we should be striving to make voting more convenient, not less. For example, exploring blockchain tech towards the end of perfecting secure online voting.
EQUALITY
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Strongly Disagree
It’s in all our interests to alleviate the persistent effects of slavery, but I don’t believe continuing to categorize people by race is a viable path forward in that respect. Anyway, we should be striving to uplift ALL individuals who are downtrodden, including but not limited to those who are palpably disadvantaged due to the effects of slavery.
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Choose not to answer
This is the sort of issue adults of good will should sort out without government wasting time and energy trying to develop a one-size-fits-all rule that will inevitably trample on someone’s rights.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.
Strongly Disagree
The atmosphere and oceans are clearly getting warmer; how much of this is due to humans is an open question. But all things being equal, “clean” energy is obviously better for us than burning dead dinosaur effluvia. The demand exists and we are making great strides on developing the supply to meet it. Government should get out of the way—stop providing financial incentives to fossil fuel companies, for example—and focus efforts on alleviating the Ill effects of a warming climate.
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Solar in combination with advance battery tech.
ABOUT YOU
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Choose not to answer
I am strongly in favor of individual liberty and freedom. Depending on circumstances, this may present as “conservative” (keeping government out of your pocketbook) or “liberal” (keeping government out of your bedroom).
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
What should be the goal of the criminal justice system?
To adjudicate situations where one person’s actions have harmed others. And most emphatically NOT to criminalize personal choices where there is no victim.
Government has a responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation during online activities.
Agree
As a society, we have a responsibility to dispense justice whenever a child is sexually exploited, commensurate with the concomitant harm. Generally, this is a more serious problem for “in person” events, not something happening online…but the latter should not be ignored. Whether the best mechanism for accomplishing this is a governmental or private judicial system is an open question, although for the time being in the USA it is clearly a governmental function.
Sharia law should not be accepted or incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States.
Strongly Disagree
No religious law should be incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States. No level of government in the United States should infringe on the practice of any religion so long is said practice does not result in coercive harm.
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
Children, adults declared incompetent, and convicted felons while serving their sentences should not be allowed to possess guns, although they may still technically own them.
