As North Carolina House District 120 voters prepare to head to the polls, incumbent Republican Karl Gillespie is asking voters to give him another term to build on his record in Raleigh.
His Democratic challenger, Caleb Brown, argues that the district needs a different voice in the General Assembly, one more willing to challenge the legislature’s leadership on public education, health care, and the influence of corporate interests.
The race pits Gillespie, a telecommunications entrepreneur and former Macon County commissioner, against Brown, a high school history teacher and Army National Guard officer who says Gillespie’s support for expanding the state’s private school voucher program helped convince him to run.
The candidates offer different approaches to some of the most contentious issues but agree that communities in North Carolina’s westernmost district face persistent challenges, including infrastructure costs, limited access to health care, and difficulty attracting and retaining workers.
For Gillespie, the priorities are continuing the region’s recovery from Hurricane Helene, delivering a state budget on time, and building on investments in school construction and broadband. Brown wants to change how the state distributes education funding, improve rural health care, and give constituents a more direct voice in the legislative process.
Gillespie touts record and influence in Raleigh
Gillespie said his entry into politics stemmed from a desire to give back to the community where his family has lived for five generations.
He spent 17 years working for a large telecommunications company before starting his own business in 1999 which is still in operation. That experience has informed his work on rural broadband expansion, which he said has made substantial progress but remains incomplete in some of the region’s most remote areas.
“The bulk of the easy stuff’s done,” Gillespie said, describing how broadband construction has reached many homes along established road corridors while leaving gaps in more isolated areas. He expects additional federal funding to help address those gaps, though he acknowledged the process is moving slower than he would like.
Gillespie also pointed to state funding for school construction as a significant accomplishment. Three of the four counties he represents have substantial school construction projects underway, he said. He and North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) have also worked to secure additional funding when rising construction costs leave local projects short of their original budgets.
“There’s a lot more to do,” Gillespie said of the region’s recovery from Hurricane Helene, which remains one of his top priorities.
Gillespie’s case for reelection also rests on his position as House majority whip, a leadership role that gives him a place inside the Republican caucus’s legislative operation. A whip typically helps party leaders count votes, communicate priorities, and build support for legislation. In a Republican-controlled legislature, that role can give Gillespie a closer view of negotiations and a more direct line to colleagues involved in setting the agenda.
For a district spanning Cherokee, Clay, Graham, and Macon counties, that access could be valuable when seeking support for school construction, disaster recovery, broadband expansion, and other regional priorities. Gillespie has emphasized his work with Corbin and the importance of building relationships with fellow lawmakers to get things done.
The whip title, however, does not guarantee that a particular project will receive funding or that a lawmaker’s priorities will prevail. The question for voters is whether Gillespie’s experience and influence have produced results that justify another term.
He also pointed to legislation addressing truck traffic on the road between Franklin and Highlands. Gillespie said changes to state law improved enforcement of truck restrictions, while an agreement involving the towns and the N.C. Highway Patrol gave Highlands police greater authority to handle certain traffic incidents.
He described such measures as the less visible work of representing a district, where relatively small legislative changes can make a meaningful difference in residents’ daily lives.
Voucher debate exposes candidates’ differences
Education is the sharpest divide between the candidates.
Gillespie defended his support for the state’s expanded Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides taxpayer-funded scholarships for students attending private schools. He argued that children learn differently and should have access to the educational environment best suited to their needs.
“My great grandmother taught a one-room schoolhouse. My mother-in-law taught fifth grade for 44 years, so I have a lot of respect for schoolteachers,” Gillespie said.
“I do believe that there are different pathways of education for different students, and funding one should not take away from the other,” he said.
But the program’s rapid growth has raised questions about whether taxpayer dollars are being distributed fairly between public and private education.
In the 2024-25 school year, North Carolina awarded $432.2 million in Opportunity Scholarships, up from $185.6 million the previous year — a 133% increase. What changed? Lawmakers eliminated income limits for recipients and dropped the requirement that students must have previously attended public school to qualify, opening the program to wealthier families and students already enrolled in private schools.
A report from Public Schools First NC, an education advocacy organization, argues that those changes have broadened the program beyond its original focus on helping lower-income families afford private education.
The organization also raises concerns about public funding going to private schools that do not face the same admissions and accountability requirements as public schools.
During his interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Gillespie was pressed on how he could support the voucher expansion while arguing that funding one educational option should not come at the expense of another, particularly in rural counties with few private school options. When asked whether vouchers take public money away from public schools, Gillespie returned to his argument that different students benefit from different educational settings.
“If at the end of the day, regardless of where somebody goes to school, they become a citizen, and they become part of the workforce,” he said. “That’s to me what we need to be focused on.”
When the question turned to the opportunity cost of using taxpayer money for private schools, including those serving families who can already afford tuition, Gillespie again emphasized the importance of choice rather than directly explaining how the program accounts for the differing obligations of public and private schools.
“I want them to have that opportunity,” he said of students who might do better in different educational settings.
The exchange left a central criticism of the program unresolved: whether expanding publicly funded private school tuition to families across income levels is a fair use of state education dollars when public school districts continue to face budget pressures.
Brown, who has spent eight years in the Highlands area working in public education [including as a coach and school bus driver], argues that the program diverts resources from public schools that must educate every student, including those with disabilities and other specialized needs.
He cited a $2.67 million budget shortfall in Macon County Public Schools. He also pointed to staffing shortages, a lack of classroom supplies, and difficulties recruiting substitute teachers and bus drivers as evidence of the strain on public education.
“Eight out of 10 of our students in North Carolina attend public schools,” Brown said. “We have to serve the majority of students.”
If elected, Brown said he would seek a moratorium on private school vouchers while lawmakers reconsider the program and would push to reinstate income limits on eligibility. He also supports expanding access to universal pre-K or significantly reducing its cost statewide.
For Brown, public education is central to the region’s long-term economic prospects. He argues that students should be able to receive a quality education, remain in Western North Carolina and build their lives here.
Brown focuses on rural health care and accountability
Brown’s other major priority is rural health care, an issue he said he has encountered both professionally and personally.
He and his family travel outside their immediate community for medical care, and he said residents in some of the district’s more remote counties face even greater barriers.
Brown proposes offering financial incentives and student loan forgiveness to physicians and behavioral health specialists willing to work in rural WNC for a set period, potentially 10 years. He also called for greater scrutiny of health care providers and said state policy should prioritize patient care over corporate profits.
Beyond education and health care, Brown said voters he’s talked to have raised concerns about data centers, Bitcoin mining facilities, Flock surveillance cameras, and internet access. He opposes development he believes could damage the region’s farms, land, and natural resources.
Brown has also criticized efforts to reduce the state’s corporate income tax rate, arguing that large businesses should contribute enough revenue to sustain public services.
His campaign emphasizes transparency and constituent involvement. Brown has pledged to hold town halls in each county he seeks to represent and said he would avoid corporate political action committee and special interest money. He also supports limits on the number of terms for state legislators, arguing that public office should be a form of service rather than a long-term career.
“I am just a teacher and a school bus driver and a coach who loves my country and my community,” Brown said. “I just want to do right by people.”
A choice between experience and change
The candidates offer voters different ideas about what effective representation looks like.
Gillespie argues that his experience, relationships, and leadership position give him the ability to help secure funding and advance legislation.
He credits colleagues, local governments, and community members for the region’s progress on school construction, broadband, and other priorities, and says he tries to make decisions based on what his constituents want.
For rural counties that can struggle to compete with larger population centers for state resources, having a representative embedded in legislative leadership may provide a practical advantage.
Gillespie’s position can help him understand where support exists for a proposal, communicate regional needs to party leaders, and work to assemble the votes needed to move legislation forward. Whether that influence produces the results residents want remains a central question in the race.
Brown, by contrast, argues that representation should mean challenging decisions that he believes put public services at risk and giving constituents more opportunities to shape policy.
He is asking voters to judge Gillespie not simply on his access to Raleigh but on the consequences of the legislature’s decisions, particularly on public education and rural communities.
Both candidates say they want to improve life in WNC. Their disagreement is over how best to get there. Gillespie is betting that experience and relationships inside the Republican-controlled House will continue to deliver results, while Brown is asking voters to send a new voice to the state capital.