The Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District had only one candidate option

last primary election season. This year, there are two potential candidates; the established Chuck Hubbard and new to the ballot, Kyah Creekmore.

Creekmore grew up in Lakeland, Florida and moved to Charlotte in 2018, where he lived for two years. He then moved to Greensboro to attend North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for industrial and systems engineering.

Prior to this election, Creekmore worked at Target and was not within the political sphere. However, after the 2024 election, he decided to ask around to see if he should run for congress. The results from his peers encouraged him.

Creekmore’s motivation for his campaign comes from his experiences growing up in poverty. He said his frustrations with the programs that affected low-income families fueled his ambition to create a change within his government.

“I learned very early in life that the system is not friendly. You’re going to be surrounded by a lot of other people that are also struggling,” Creekmore said.

Creekmore said the main pillars of his campaign concern gun control laws, climate justice, uplifting workers unions, more funding to public schools, higher wages for teachers and universal healthcare. Creekmore’s healthcare act, labeled as The People’s Healthcare Rescue Act, is the main focus of his campaign where he calls for free healthcare for all.

To Creekmore, Greensboro “is where I live and is literally where I built my entire political identity in the last 365 days.” Greensboro is also the focal point of where his main campaign and canvassing efforts are.

Though his focus is on the densely populated area of his hometown, Creekmore has been reaching out to the other counties within North Carolina’s 5th district as well.

“It’s a lot fewer organizations that are probably open to having me there so I’m doing more work to reach out,” Creekmore said.

His goal as a potential congressman is to create opportunities for all people of the 5th district to participate in local and state lawmaking. He plans to set up a ‘people’s assembly’ where residents would be able to directly speak to Creekmore and his team on key issues.

“Coming with new ideas and then allowing people to actually be a part of the process is how I’m looking to represent all the people,” Creekmore said.

Although he is on the ballot for the democratic primaries, Creekmore seeks to separate himself from his fellow party members.

“I want people to vote for Kyah Creekmore, not Kyah the Democrat. I’m not a Democrat by party, I’m a Democrat by name. That’s it. It’s my label,” Creekmore said. “You vote for a vision and not a party.”