Bob Etheridge is running for Governor because he cannot sit on the sidelines and see the great strides this state has achieved whittled down by the Republican-controlled legislature. As Governor, Bob will stand up to those forces that would block our growth, back pedal our progress and stop us from realizing the future that our citizens, want, need and deserve.
Bob Etheridge’s life work has been about building from the ground up, and that starts with our public schools. He grew up the son of tenant farmers in Johnston County and was the first of his family to graduate from college, at Campbell University.
Bob supported his family as a small businessman and began his career of public service as a Harnett County Commissioner where he led the fight to consolidate and build new high schools.
He was elected to the NC House in 1978 and served 10 years, eventually chairing the Appropriations Committee. He introduced the Basic Education Plan that put thousands of additional teachers and teacher’s assistants in classrooms.
In 1988 and 1992, he was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As superintendent, he introduced an accountability program that improved our schools by raising standards of performance and giving parents the information they needed to better understand what was happening with the educating of their children.
In 1996, Bob Etheridge was elected to Congress from North Carolina’s second district, which he represented for fourteen years . As Congressman, Bob worked to build and renovate our schools and to make it possible for more young people to earn scholarships and gain student loans in order to attend our colleges and universities.
In 2011, he was appointed by Gov. Beverly Perdue to monitor federal stimulus recovery funding. Following a devastating tornado in central NC and a devastating hurricane in eastern North Carolina, the Governor asked him to identify and secure funding for the victims of those natural disasters.
Etheridge and his wife, Faye, have been married for 45 years and have three children and eight grandchildren. He is an active member of Leaflet Presbyterian Church where he is an elder, president of the Presbyterian men and a long-time Sunday School teacher.
