Fred Von Canon, candidate for NC House District 35

Name: Fred Von Canon

Political party: Republican

Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 60

Campaign website: votevoncanon.com

Occupation: Business owner

Education: BS from Auburn University and MS in Computer Engineering from University of South Carolina.

Have you run for elected office before? Yes, same seat in 2020.

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: Involved in our church, in marriage ministry and helping moms who want to keep their babies.

What are the three issues that you see as most important to your district and what will you do to address them?

1. Public Safety. My opponent has pledged to defund the police. I support our law enforcement officers.

2. School Choice. Parents are frustrated with their public schools’ lack of curriculum transparency, availability of pornographic books in elementary school libraries and with the hyper-focus on gender identity and sexual orientation. Parents want their kids to learn math, reading, writing, science, history, civics, etc.

3. Economy. We need less government spending to lower inflation.

Editor’s note: For clarification on Von Canon’s “defund the police” claims, read this fact check.

At a time when costs are rising, state government has a surplus. How should it be used?

We need to determine an amount needed for our rainy day fund and then we need to rebate the taxpayers anything over that.

Will you vote for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina?

Undecided.

What has the legislature gotten right, and what has it gotten wrong, about public education in North Carolina?

Right: opportunity scholarships. We need greater school choice. Wrong: We need full school choice where the dollars follow the child. True school choice will introduce competition and will make all schools better.

Should North Carolina change its abortion laws? How?

Abortion should be banned starting at some point during the first trimester.

Please add anything else voters should know about your position on the legality or availability of abortion in North Carolina.

I would support a heartbeat bill with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. My opponent wants to make people believe I want to criminalize miscarriages, the procedure that removes an ectopic pregnancy and even birth control. None of this is true. My opponent wants to allow abortions right up until the baby is being born. And with his vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act, he would not even protect a baby after it’s born.

Editor’s note: In his candidate questionnaire, Von Canon’s opponent, Rep. Terence Everitt, said the current North Carolina law banning abortion after 20 weeks should remain in place.

Should medical marijuana be legalized in North Carolina?

No.

What, if anything, should the legislature to do shape curriculum dealing with topics of race, sexuality and gender?

We need to eliminate any race-based instruction that teaches kids to judge people based on skin color, or that one race is superior or inferior to another. We need to have curriculum and instruction through at least 5th grade that does not include gender identity and sexual orientation discussions. They are not appropriate for this age and are topics that should be dealt with by parents in the home.

Do you accept the results of the 2020 presidential election?

Yes.