The Election Hub has partnered with the Gaston Business Association to bring voters information about Gaston County candidates.
The North Carolina House of Representatives is made up of 120 members of the General Assembly who are elected for two-year terms. The House has lawmaking powers, along with the N.C. Senate. Additionally, House members have the authority to tax and spend, allocate funds, override a gubernatorial veto, provide state agency oversight and elect UNC Board of Governors members. They also conduct constituent services and have the sole power of impeachment. Candidates must be 21 years old to run for the House and they must have lived in their district for at least one year before the general election.
The N.C. House of Representatives has 47 Democrats, 71 Republicans and 2 unaffiliated members. To override a veto of any bill by the governor, three-fifths of both chambers (72 House members and 30 senators) must vote to override it.
House District 108 is in the northeastern part of Gaston County.
John A. Torbett
Party: Republican
Incumbent: Yes
Age: 70
Previous experience in elected office: N.C. General Assembly District 108 (2011-present); Riverbend Township Commissioner for the Gaston County Board of Commissioners (2002-2010)
Occupation: N.C. General Assembly representative
Description:
Torbett is seeking his ninth term. Some of the top issues listed on Torbett's website include removing illegal drugs to create a safer community, conserving natural resources, upholding the Second Amendment, and providing tax relief. Torbett believes "current immigration law needs an overhaul in the effort to reduce the entry process times while also strengthening the security at our nation’s borders." Following N.C.’s passage of the controversial HB2 bill in 2016 that required people to use the restrooms in government buildings according to their biological sex, Torbett filed a bill to make a boycott an act of “economic terrorism.” He was the first primary sponsor of 10 bills in the most recent legislative session, including Liam's Law, which increases the penalty for street racing and reckless driving. He is the chairman of the Appropriations for General Government committee.
Other personal:
Torbett was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is married and has one daughter. Torbett enjoys property investing and rehabilitation as well as supporting civic and nonprofit organizations. He attended Middle Tennessee State University from 1975 to 1977 and was a homebuilder in the late ’70s.
Sydnie Hutchinson
Party: Democrat
Incumbent: No
Age: Approximately 33
Previous experience in elected office: None; previously ran unsuccessfully for N.C. General Assembly in 2024
Occupation: Paralegal
Description:
Hutchinson says she is motivated to run for office because of her job as a paralegal, saying, "I have seen firsthand the negative effects of how harmful legislation can impact my community." She points out scenarios such as insurance requirements devastating people with medical bills. On her website, Hutchinson states she wants to protect rights such as women's healthcare, LGBTQ+ safety and equal voting accessibility. In an interview with the Gaston Gazette, she said her "top priorities for Gaston County would be affordable housing, public school funding and quality access to medical care." Additionally, Hutchinson wants to make childcare more accessible to families. She said she decided to run when she learned that incumbent John Torbett would otherwise be unopposed. She believes that Gaston County's urban center has been divided among three districts to give Republicans more seats.
Other personal:
Hutchinson was born in Charlotte. She keeps her family life private. She received her associate degree in paralegal studies from Ivy Tech Community College.
Questionnaire from The Gaston Business Association
What will be your priority issues in the upcoming session and how do you propose to address them?
The challenges we face in Gaston County aren't problems we have to live with. They're problems we can fix with sound, purposeful legislation, and that's exactly why I'm running.
My priorities for our county are clear. First, we fully fund our public schools. Second, we expand access to affordable housing. Third, we protect quality access to medical care. Fourth, we tackle Gaston County's growing infrastructure needs. And fifth, we work at the state level to put more money back into the pockets of the hardworking people of our district.
On education: North Carolina pays our teachers roughly $14,000 to $16,500 below the national average, even as we pour public money into private-school vouchers. The Opportunity Scholarship program tripled from $185.6 million in 2023–24 to $589 million this year, and it's on a path to $825 million a year by 2032, roughly $6.5 billion over the decade. We cannot spend the public's tax dollars on private education that carries no state standards and no accountability. I will fight to freeze and phase down the voucher expansion, and use that clawed-back money to raise teacher pay to the national standard. That's how we make our schools strong again.
On housing and infrastructure: as Gaston County grows, we need to be looking at grants, funding, and partnerships to meet our infrastructure needs and we need to make sure developers are paying their fair share. A county where homes and roads are aging and families are stretched thin deserves a legislator who plans ahead, not one who reacts late.
On healthcare: quality, affordable medical care should never depend on your ZIP code. Every family in our district should be able to see a doctor without going broke. We need to work with medical providers to expand local resources, grant programs and we need to continue to expand Medicaid coverage to more North Carolinians. Healthcare is a human right and not one for those that can afford it.
On working families and small business: we should put more money back in workers' pockets by expanding the child tax credit and creating a state earned income tax credit that reaches millions of workers. And we support our local small businesses with tax incentives and grant programs, because a strong local economy is built from the ground up on Main Street, not just in Raleigh. I will fight to repeal North Carolina’s anti-union “Right to Work” laws and protect worker’s rights to organize and bargain collectively. We also need corporations to pay their fair share. With corporate income tax falling from 2% today to 0% by 2030, working people are being asked to carry too much of the burden. That isn’t fair, and we must change it.
These aren't abstract policies. Together, they improve the everyday lives of Gaston County families while building a stronger local economy. That's the work. Sound, purposeful legislation for Gaston County and for every family in it.
Voters will see three amendments on the ballot this November: 1) photo ID for all voting methods, 2) an income tax cap, and 3) a directive to limit property tax levy increases. What are your stances on each, and why?
1. I believe we can have both election integrity and universal access to the ballot, they aren't in conflict. I support a common-sense verification standard, but only one that removes every barrier to meeting it. The problem with North Carolina's current voter ID law isn't the idea that elections should be secure; it's that the requirement falls unevenly on Black voters, students, older residents, and low-income families who are least likely to hold a current government-issued photo ID. Any ID standard has to come with the safeguards to make it fair and truly accessible: a free state-issued ID available at every county board of elections, same-day and mobile ID options, broad acceptable forms of identification (including student IDs, utility bills, and signed affidavits), automatic protection for voters who face real hardship obtaining one, and robust funding for voter education so no one is turned away at the door. Election security and voting rights should reinforce each other, not trade off against each other.
2/3. These amendments share a common architecture: they tilt power from local communities to the General Assembly, lock in austerity, and shrink democratic participation. Gaston County is a working-class county that depends on locally funded schools, public safety, and county services, and it already leans on those services more than the state average. Capping income tax at 3.5 percent permanently forecloses the revenue needed for teacher salaries, health, and infrastructure; a property tax levy limit handed to state lawmakers threatens the very services Gaston families rely on; and expanding photo-ID to mail voters adds a new barrier without addressing any demonstrated fraud. Also photo-ID is the law in NC a constitutional amendment is not warranted. The net effect is less local control and less responsive government, the opposite of what Gaston needs.
Gaston County's profile tells a consistent story: it is a working-class community with real strain on household budgets and a heavier-than-average reliance on public services. Median rent is about $1,080 a month, and 51.6 percent of renters are cost-burdened, spending over 30 percent of income on housing. Child poverty runs at 20.8 percent, roughly three points above the statewide figure, even as overall poverty (12.7 percent) sits slightly below the state average. Per-capita income of about $33,600 trails North Carolina's $41,400 by nearly 20 percent. More than one in eight residents lacks health insurance, and just under 6 percent of households have no vehicle. Together these numbers frame exactly why the three amendments are the wrong medicine: Gaston needs more investment in schools, housing, health access, and services, not constitutional provisions that cap the revenue that pays for them or barriers that make it harder for strained households to vote.
Voting against the tax amendments preserves our ability to build a fairer tax system, invest in communities and provide real relief for working families.
If the income tax cap amendment passes, how would you ensure future revenue shortfalls are mitigated?
The biggest winners of these amendments are wealthy people, large property owners and corporations while our communities would be left with fewer resources and fewer choices in the future. I think we would have to make a lot of tough choices and look at the state's current corporate income tax rate. Currently the rate is set to 2% by 2030 it will be 0% under our current tax system. Communities are already being stretched thin. We would need to look into corporations paying their fair share into our tax system. North Carolina is the first state in the country for business but last in the country for workers rights, pay and benefits. Working people are being asked to carry too much of the burden. This is not fair and we must change this. I would support legislation that ties public incentives to higher wages, affordable benefits, local hiring, and job retention. Companies receiving taxpayer-funded incentives should be required to meet clear wage and job-quality standards, with stronger incentives for employers that exceed those standards and consequences when they fail to meet their commitments. We can grow Gaston County’s economy while making sure that growth creates good-paying jobs that allow working families to thrive.
Critics say putting tax policy into the constitution removes flexibility from future legislators and local governments. What is your response to that opinion?
I agree with this position. If passed the amendment to lower the max state income tax rate would make it harder for the state to ask wealthy people or corporations to contribute more in the future. If passed the amendment on property taxes would limit how much local property tax revenue can grow. This amendment does not set a number as to what the cap would even be on property taxes. This would reduce the resources communities use for schools, emergency services, infrastructure and other public service needs. The amendments do not solve affordability problems families are facing. This would lock us in an already difficult situation permanent.
