JANUARY 25, 2024 (RALEIGH)—Gubernatorial candidate Shannon Bray lead off a stream of Libertarian candidates making their case to delegates and activists attending the 2024 Wake County Libertarian Party convention last night at Tobacco Road. 

“We care about the economy, we care about inflation, we care about health care, we care about criminal justice reform,” stated Bray. “In fact criminal justice reform had been lower on my list, and has gotten a lot higher lately.” Last August, Bray was arrested and charged with domestic violence and drug felonies. Last month in two bench trials, he was found innocent of all but one marijuana possession misdemeanor. 

“Out of all the candidates running for governor, I’m the only one who has spent seven days in jail in the last four months,” Bray continued. “I got to talk to a lot of people when I was there, and found out why they were there. Most of them had not done anything to hurt anyone else, and their prosecution amounts to gross negligence on the part of our government. They work exceptionally hard to make plea bargain deals and just hold people down. And if you don’t have money…lucky for me I had a good job, I had a good bank account, and I was able to survive it. But without those advantages, I would have been put away and lost everything with no chance to rebound. But even so, I lost my home, my cars, my job…even though I was found innocent, all of my property has been taken out of my control and I have to back to court to get that taken care of. And all of this is government abuse. 

“So I have a fire in my belly to do well,” Bray concluded. 

Several other candidates also spoke at the convention, including Bray’s primary opponent, Mike Ross, Dee Watson (Lt. Governor), Sean Haugh (Commissioner of Agriculture), and, following some convention business, a half-dozen Wake County candidates for North Carolina General Assembly.