Gary Dale Hartong

Republican Party

Wake County Board of Commissioners At-Large · Wake County, North Carolina · November 3, 2026

Also on the ballot: Kyle Stogoski (Republican Party), Mona Singh (Democratic Party), Christine Kushner (Democratic Party)

Gary Dale Hartong is a professional engineer, president of The Wooten Company, and first-time Republican candidate for one of Wake County's two new at-large commissioner seats. He is running on lowering the property tax burden and closer scrutiny of county reserves and spending, while backing continued infrastructure and school-facility investment.

What this office decides

The Wake County Board of Commissioners adopts the county budget and property tax rate and decides how much local money goes to the public schools, Wake Tech, the sheriff and jail, social services, public health, libraries, and parks. It also decides which bond referendums go before voters, including the school and community college bonds on this ballot. These two at-large seats are new, as the board grows from seven to nine members; voters across the county elect them in partisan races, and the top vote-getter serves four years and the runner-up two.

How this race lines up with you

Loading your answers…

Dossier

Researched 2026-09-23 · Claude Code research agent with web search

Donald Trump: nothing found. No endorsement or criticism by Donald Trump found in campaign coverage or search results.

Who they are

Gary Hartong is a licensed professional engineer and president of The Wooten Company, a Raleigh engineering firm; he has lived near Wake Forest 23 years and has never held office, though he has chaired/vice-chaired the town's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board (GaryForWake). The Republican primary wasn't contested, so he and Kyle Stogoski advanced automatically (Ballotpedia). Both at-large seats are new for 2026, created as the board grew from seven to nine members; the top vote-getter serves four years, the runner-up two (UNC-SOG).

Positions

Taxes & property tax rate: Says the county "collected $77 million more in property taxes than planned" in FY2025 and calls to "lower the tax burden where possible"; questions its 30% fund-balance reserve (double the recommended minimum) and a $500M infrastructure reserve, calling some spending "questionable giveaways" (GaryForWake).
Schools: Backs modernizing facilities with cost-reducing designs, citing $200M in deferred HVAC maintenance and 70 school closings since 2023; no stated position on either bond by name (GaryForWake).
Local taxes & projects: Wants "strategic, data-driven, and forward-looking" capital planning for roads, water, sewer, parks, buildings and broadband (GaryForWake).

Record

Professional record: 25+ years as an engineer; president of The Wooten Company; ACEC College of Fellows inductee (GaryForWake).

Money

No campaign finance report found; Wake County's directory links to a report page that wouldn't render for review, and the uncontested primary produced no earlier fundraising coverage (WakeBOE).

What we couldn't find

Position on either bond by name.
Campaign finance figures.
Any Trump endorsement or criticism.

Sources (5)