NEWS
2024 Primary – Commissioner of Insurance
The following candidate information is from the North Carolina Board of Elections website.
There are three candidates who will be on the Republican primary ballot, including incumbent Mike Causey. There are two candidates on the Democratic primary ballot, Davidson resident Natasha Marcus and David Wheeler.
While we did not receive responses from all the candidates, we hope the following information will be helpful as you research the other candidates. Note: our initial deadline to submit a response was Friday, Feb. 9. We will add late responses if they are submitted, with the date they were received.
Robert Brawley (R)
1030 Oakridge Farm Highway
Mooresville, NC 28115
(704) 658-8511
Website: https://robertbrawley.net
NOTE: response received after our initial deadline, added to article on Feb. 12
Have you ever been to the Town of Davidson, or do you have a connection to our Town?
Absolutely, I live in Mooresville life long.
Why are you running for office?
My experience and background in Insurance tells me the department needs help. The current commissioner ask for and received in 2018 permission for the carriers to exceed the rates which he takes pride of keeping down but allowing increases as much as 2.5 times. Called consent to rate. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners since 2019 when the consent to rate was changed to 2023 NC premiums increased faster than 15 states. We moved from 4th to 19th lowest.
What makes you the most qualified over your primary opponents?
My back ground and experience. I am the only candidate (according to NCDOI) that has had an insurance licenses longer than 4 years. I served on the insurance committee for 29 years in the NC House Representatives. I have always recognized the need for companies to be profitable and I accept the responsibility in the status to provide FAIR pricing of product.
What is the number one thing that Davidson voters need to know about you?
I am good to my word and I believe in applying the law uniformally to all.
What will be your top priorities?
To regain control of the rates in North Carolina, then to clean up the serious problem of fraud in the insurance industry which is allowed by lack of enfocement. Here in our community. I know of a case of insurance fraud with complete evidence given to NCDOI a year ago with nothing done. The fraud has grown from $65
Mike Causey (R)
2876 Causey Lake Road
Greensboro, NC 27406
(336) 210-1947
Website: https://mikecauseync.com
Andrew Marcus (R)
129 Wolfs Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(919) 440-3907
Website: https://www.marcusfornc.com
Have you ever been to the Town of Davidson, or do you have a connection to our Town?
I almost went to college at Davidson. The town’s beauty and the college’s campus were fantastic. As someone who comes from 11 generations of North Carolinians, including one ancestor who signed the Mecklenburg Declaration, many of my family members have lived in Davidson and went to school there.
Why are you running for office?
I am running because someone needs to fight for North Carolinians, not for their own petty political interests. Our current commissioner has multiple leadership failures. He has played political games with the good people in the State Fire Marshal’s Office. The current Commissioner has paid his own political allies for make-work jobs. Meanwhile, our auto and homeowner’s insurance have increased faster than the rate of inflation. We need a change in the office.
What makes you the most qualified over your primary opponents?
No other candidate has the experience or ability to fight for North Carolinians from day one. The other candidates are career politicians looking for just one more election. I am a former prosecutor and a former insurance regulator. I have experience going toe-to-toe with some of the largest corporations on the planet. I am now a lawyer in the private sector and have represented all sides in insurance – policyholders, small businesses, doctors, agents, hospitals, and insurers. I am not a career politician and I bring a unique perspective to the office and can get started on day one to fight for you.
What is the number one thing that Davidson voters need to know about you?
I live with my wife and two young boys in Chapel Hill. They are my world and I want to keep North Carolina the best state to live in the country for them.
What will be your top priorities?
We need a commissioner who is focused on keeping more money in your pocket. North Carolina’s home and auto insurance rates have increased more than inflation. I’ll fight for better rates, especially for those hardest hit. As a former prosecutor, I’ll stand up for ratepayers and root out the fraud and abuse. I’ll also fight to expand the market to increase competition.
Natasha Marcus (D)
806 Ashby Drive
Davidson, NC 28036
(980) 254-0473
Website: https://natashamarcus.com
Have you ever been to the Town of Davidson, or do you have a connection to our Town? [we noted that we knew that she is a Davidson resident when we sent the email]
Yes of course! I have lived in Davidson since 2007. I have deep connections with the Town, where I raised my two daughters, own a home in the McConnell neighborhood, served on the Town Advisory Board on Greenways, Trailways & Bikeways, volunteer with the local schools, the Ada Jenkins Center, Cats of Davidson, DavidsonLearns, the Democrats of North Mecklenburg and other local political groups, and served as a neighborhood team leader on the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns.
Why are you running for office?
I have been a State Senator since 2019, serving our community on several committees including Commerce & Insurance. I am an effective advocate for the people, motivated by my passion for justice & fairness. The Republican supermajority in Raleigh sees me as such an effective advocate, in fact, that they decided to gerrymander me out of my Senate district, putting most of Davidson with Iredell County, in a very red district. So now, I am ready to redirect my passion for public service, use what I’ve learned in the legislature and my skills as a former litigation attorney, to represent all North Carolinians on the Council of State as our next Commissioner of Insurance.
I am angry that the current Commissioner fails to do the job he was elected to do. Mr. Causey is supposed to represent the people, not the insurance companies. He is supposed to promote fire safety & keep insurance rates low.
Yet, he lost the respect of firefighters when he sacked leadership at the Fire Marshal’s Office over a political fight. He lost the trust of NC consumers by agreeing to 19 rate hikes without a single public hearing. He lost the respect of voters by failing to address the costly impacts of climate change.
As NC families are feeling economic pressures and insurance rates are almost unaffordable for so many people, NC needs an Insurance Commissioner who respects the people she serves, provides the transparency they deserve, with the litigation experience to hold full public hearings on rate hike requests and cross-examine insurance companies, and who will mitigate the impacts of climate change to protect our planet and protect North Carolinians.
In short, I can do the job better than the incumbent – so I’m running.
What makes you the most qualified over your primary opponents?
I am the only candidate in the Democratic primary who has won an election, held public office or served the public in any role. As a three-term state Senator, I have deep knowledge of how state government works and the key players, which is experience our previous Insurance Commissioner also had and which is critical for this position on the Council of State.
I am also the only one who has the legal skills to hold the public hearings on rate hike requests and cross examine the insurance companies. Unlike my opponent, I am running a positive, grassroots-funded campaign, have shown consistency in my ability to represent the people’s best interests, and am well-positioned to defeat the incumbent in November.
Finally, I have earned each and every one of the available endorsements in this race which my opponent and I have both sought, including the AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, People’s Alliance, BPC, George Simkins, Lillian’s List and more. See my growing list of endorsements and other info at NatashaMarcus.com.
What is the number one thing that Davidson voters need to know about you?
I am seeking this office to be the people’s advocate. I have no ties to the insurance industry and do not accept their PAC money. I will be an independent, non-partisan, unbiased, effective Commissioner of Insurance who is laser-focused on the best interests of the people in our state who need affordable, reliable insurance coverage for their homes, cars, businesses, and health. I’ve proven that I work for you during my time in the Senate and I will continue to keep your needs at the forefront in this new role on the Council of State.
What will be your top priorities?
Insurance prices in NC are rising faster than the rate of inflation and homeowners’ rates are much higher than the national average. Under the current Commissioner, Mike Causey, consumers aren’t being protected from rate increases and aren’t provided any transparency or accountability. To fix this, I’ll bring back what the previous NC Insurance Commissioners did – hold full public hearings to ensure rates don’t go up one penny more than necessary anywhere in the state. Consumers need a Commissioner of Insurance who will provide transparency in the rate-setting process by requiring insurance companies to show proof, under oath and subject to cross-examination, of their profits, executive salaries, etc. During the current Commissioner’s time in office, there has been no transparency, no public hearings to justify rate hikes, and an unprecedented number of rate hikes. He always skips the public hearings, and makes private deals with the insurance companies instead. I will return transparency & accountability, like we had under the previous Commissioners.
In addition, I will work to address the over-used “consent to rate loophole” so that insurance companies cannot force 25% + of their policyholders to pay a rate higher than the rate set by the Insurance Commissioner. This will stop insurance companies from raising rates on homeowners and drivers when they haven’t even filed a claim. I will form a task force to investigate this issue, so we can fully understand the prevalence of the insurance companies’ invocation of the CTR loophole and how to tweak regulations to protect consumers better.
Also, as Attorney General Josh Stein’s recent lawsuit and settlement with a major mortgage bank showed, redlining is still happening in Mecklenburg County and other areas of NC. I will use the investigatory and law enforcement resources at the Department of Insurance to track company practices, look for patterns, unfair practices, and red flags, and root out any similar racially-biased discrimination by insurance companies.
My final top priority is to protect NC consumers from unfair delays and unfounded denials of claims and root out fraud, which increases the cost of insurance for honest policyholders. I will strengthen the consumer services department of the Dept of Insurance, so people know they have an advocate in my office who works for them.
David Wheeler (D)
237 Rock Ledge Road
Spruce Pine, NC 28777
(828) 761-6001
Website: https://www.wheelernc.com