A pastor from Hillsborough is one of two Republican candidates competing to run against a Democratic incumbent for the District 50 state house seat.

“There are a few things that politicians could learn from someone who is just a pastor. And there are a few things that just a pastor could understand.

“A pastor knows how to make an organization work on the funding provided voluntarily by its members – not coerced.”

That’s Rod Chaney, from a 2012 campaign ad.

That’s when Chaney, a Republican, ran against Valerie Foushee for the NC House 50 seat.

District 50 includes parts of Durham and Orange Counties. Foushee won that race, by 55-to-45 percent.

This time, the incumbent in the race is Democratic Rep. Graig Meyer.

He was appointed to the seat last year to replace Foushee, who’d been chosen for the state’s District 23 Senate seat, left vacant by the retirement of Ellie Kinnaird.

Chaney, a pastor at Sunrise Church in Chapel Hill, is running again in 2014. His Republican opponent in the May 6 primary is retired banker Lewis Hannah, the same as in 2012.

This past week, Chaney did not respond to several interview requests from WCHL.

Back in 2012, he filled out a survey from the conservative Civitas Institute, asking about his positions on some issues.

In the survey, he agreed that the Affordable Care Act should be repealed.

Chaney also answered that he believes marriage between one man and one woman should be the only domestic legal union considered valid in North Carolina.

He said that North Carolinaʼs status as a so-called “Right-to-Work” state should be written into the state constitution.

Chaney also took the position that North Carolina should allow offshore and natural gas exploration.

He was also opposed to the creation of a nonpartisan redistricting commission.

In 2012, Chaney opposed raising the state sales tax by ¾ of one cent to provide additional resources to public schools.

Chaney ran in 2012 as a supporter of charter schools.

As he stated in this ad from that campaign, Chaney served on the board of Orange Charter School for two years.

“By competition, the public school is getting leaner in their bureaucracy, they’re being more effective, because they realize there’s another game in town.”

In the coming weeks, WCHL and chapelboro.com will reach out to candidates in all local races.