Ken Brown pledges local control, servant leadership in 118th District bid
Ken Brown has become the first candidate to challenge incumbent Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless in a Primary Election. Ken Brown photo
Sales executive Ken Brown says he’ll enter the Republican Primary for North Carolina’s 118th House District, setting up a challenge to incumbent Rep. Mark Pless.
A relative newcomer to electoral politics but a familiar figure in conservative circles, Brown will campaign on a platform of “servant leadership,” with an emphasis on collaboration, transparency and deference to local governments.
News of Brown’s entry was first reported by The Smoky Mountain News on May 22.
“I’ve been steeped in communication and collaboration and listening for what the problems are,” said Brown, whose corporate background is in “complex sales,” a field that he says involves many stakeholders, many problems and large budgets. “The whole motivation for being here is jurisdictional control, government close to the people, local autonomy. I don’t care if they’re even doing something that I disagree with — if they’re duly elected and the people knew why they voted for these people and what they stood for, who am I to tell them what they ought to do?”
Brown’s comment strikes directly at the heart of what some say is Pless’ indifference to or outright defiance of municipalities in his two-county district. Although Pless has brought tens of millions of dollars back to his district over the past four years, controversial local bills affecting Maggie Valley, Waynesville and the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority have earned Pless plenty of ire.
In February, Pless filed a bill that would have stripped the TDA of its authority to collect the county’s 4% room occupancy tax, effectively dismantling the organization. But when the bill came out of committee, it looked completely different — authorizing county commissioners to increase the rate to 6% but in doing so reducing the size of the TDA board and eliminating all municipal representation and zip code spending requirements. After overhead, the TDA spends about $3 million a year on tourism-related marketing and capital projects.
Related Items
Trump’s decisions weaken our country
Crane leads the charge: Prosecutor wants tribunal to prosecute Russia for crimes of aggression
No tax increase proposed for Macon
Haywood GOP sponsors “Spirit of America Celebration”
“I like the 6% part of it. I don’t like the strings part of it,” Brown said. “I see the bill as worsening [transparency] by taking municipal representation off of the board.”
Waynesville’s Town Council has been outspoken in opposing many of Pless’ initiatives, including among other things his push for partisan elections and his backing of “Team Waynesville” — Tre Franklin, Stephanie Sutton and Peggy Hannah — which in 2023 attempted but failed to unseat members of the current Council.
Maggie Valley has plenty of beef, too. In 2023, Pless introduced legislation that removed Maggie Valley’s authority to exercise powers in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, effectively eliminating the town’s ability to regulate development in areas just outside its boundaries. This move was seen as retribution for the town’s temporary moratorium on RV parks and campgrounds, which Pless opposed.
Pless argued that the town’s actions infringed on property rights. Jim Owens, a Maggie Valley alderman, said at the time, “A junior representative in Raleigh wants to decide what’s best for Maggie Valley. I don’t think that voters and the citizens in Maggie Valley appreciate that.”
Most recently, Pless made good on his promise to advocate for Maggie Valley residents seeking, for various reasons, deannexation from the town. The bill remains in the House finance committee.
Districtwide, Pless introduced bills that would remove county control over EMS services and shift certification standards to a national registry. Local EMS officials, including Haywood County’s EMS director, expressed concerns that these changes would lower service quality and reduce local accountability.
The common thread is Pless’ willingness to act in ways he feels are helpful but local officials feel are intrusive.
Brown’s website mentions the phrase “servant leadership” repeatedly. Asked to define it, he broke it down into four components — meeting constituent needs, leading with humility and empathy, promoting empowerment and collaborative listening.
“The reality is, it’s about listening and understanding people’s problems, connecting the dots between people’s problems within an organization where there’s lots of stakeholders, and then presenting ideas to solve those problems,” Brown said.
While much of the public attention around Pless has focused on his high-profile disputes with local governments, his work in the General Assembly encompasses a far larger legislative portfolio.
On economic development — especially after Hurricane Helene — Brown stopped short of laying out a detailed plan but said his experience working with large corporations could prove valuable in attracting jobs to the region.
“Those companies are my comfort zone,” he said. “I think I would stand a very good chance of being able to foster those relationships and move that kind of thing forward.”
Brown cited the county’s strong labor pool as a positive however, there are more factors at play. North Carolina has repeatedly been cited as the top state in which to do business but has also been called one of the worst states for workers. The General Assembly’s push to eliminate income taxes altogether over the next few years has excited both businesses and workers, however others caution the state is headed for a massive fiscal cliff or severe cuts to critical services.
“I love the idea of going to zero, as long as the other side of the equal sign gets its offsetting parameters,” Brown said.
Then, there’s the Republican-led General Assembly’s conservative social bent, which has helped some members get reelected, again and again, despite real-world financial impact of initiatives like HB2 — the controversial “bathroom bill.”
Apple, along with dozens of other major corporations — including PayPal, Deutsche Bank and the NCAA — publicly condemned the bill. Apple stated at the time, “Apple stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love … our future as Americans should be focused on inclusion and prosperity, and not discrimination in division. We were disappointed to see governor McCrory sign this legislation.”
The broader economic consequences of socially divisive legislation aren’t lost on Brown.
“I’m very sensitive to the fact that Apple has the demographics that they have,” he said. “I’ve worked for San Francisco-based companies most of my career. All of America’s a melting pot. San Francisco is a melting pot within a melting pot. It was just never really an issue. It’s something that I would say would be easy for me to be sensitive to but I hate to say without hindsight how I would mitigate that.”
Looking ahead to redistricting following the 2030 census, Brown said if he’s elected and reelected down the road, he hopes to approach the redistricting process with integrity but also acknowledged the political realities.
“I like to do the right thing, and I like to sleep well at night,” he said. “At the same time, it’s difficult to say that I’m totally impervious to the idea of giving myself an advantage. Without seeing what that census data would say out on a map ... what I’d like to see is logical districts.”
Probably the only realistic chance to unseat Pless will come in the Republican Primary Election; first elected to the General Assembly in 2020, Pless has never faced a Primary Election opponent and has only seen light opposition from Democrats in the past three General Elections. Over that time, Pless has never failed to earn at least 60% of the vote.
His district, however, includes not only Haywood County but also Madison County, where he has performed about as well as he has in Haywood County. Madison only contributes about half the amount of votes to the district totals as Haywood does, and but that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant.
In fact, Madison County connections could matter more in this election than ever before — Pless and Brown are both from Haywood County, and The Smoky Mountain News is aware of unconfirmed reports that three other Republicans, all from Haywood County, are also considering entry into the race.
Splitting the Haywood County vote five ways just might mean that Madison County will have a larger-than-normal impact on the results.
“The group of folks that I’m working with are very conscious of the fact that we need to have Madison County,” he said. “There are things in the works to make sure that happens.”
The candidate filing period for the 2026 General Election begins on Dec. 1. The Primary Election will take place on March 3, 2026. For more information on the 2026 elections, visit ncsbe.gov.
