Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Gaston County, NC (WNN) - While the seat for the Riverbend Township only has one candidate on the ballot, a challenger stepped up after deciding he didn’t want to see this political race go uncontested. Charley Killian was introduced to local politics when he took an interest in the county's involvement with a tract of land in the upper right corner of Gaston County.
Killian grew up in Gaston County, with his family's roots here dating back before the county was established. He recently added his family farm to the Centennial Farm Project in NC, which recognizes it as having been under continuous family ownership for at least 100 years. He hopes to one day fully support his family through farming; however, he currently works as a manager at an engineering firm. This pairs nicely with his degree in Civil Engineering technology, which he began at Gaston College, before obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Charlotte. From his start in 2010, he has worked to become a Drilling Field Services Manager. Through this, he has become accustomed to some of what is needed in the political sphere, such as a handle on understanding budgets and effective leadership skills.
Being in the county's outer reaches did not offer many opportunities for Killian to become involved in local politics.
“Politics has never had never crossed my mind. And what kind of skyrocketed me into this, was I learned the process through a very, very large partial that was sold by Duke Powers Land Holding Company.”
He noted that when the land was originally bought, all the local farmers who sold it had been told that Mountain Island Lake would be flooded, which would cut off access to their properties. They were additionally told not to worry, as the land would always be used as a local watershed. However, between 2018 and 2020, the land went up for sale and was bought by a developer. Killian recalls that no one around him expected or knew about the sale before it happened.
From here, he decided to attend the local planning and zoning board meetings. After discussing whether or not the board felt this was good for the community, there was ultimately a unanimous vote against it. Satisfied with the zoning board's decision, Killian and his neighbors spoke with their local representative and felt he had their best interests in mind. After this, the representative shockingly moved to begin the sale to fund a cluster development on the property, and Killian felt someone needed to ensure this race wasn't uncontested.
With the people around him saying they needed to find someone else to run, Killian looked into filing himself. Having recently changed parties threw a wrench in this, however, as he had registered as unaffiliated. The county commissioner seats are a partisan race, so he found himself changing again, to Libertarian. While he had grown up a Democrat, he felt this no longer represented his viewpoints. As a result, he would have had to gather 2,500 signatures to run. It was believed there would be a second candidate, so Charley did not pursue this. However, this did not come to be, so Killian found himself being asked to run through a write-in process.
After successfully switching to Libertarian to participate in the race, Killian needed only 100 signatures to be a write-in, which he quickly secured. As the only write-in for the position, it will come down to voter intent laws. If the write-in slot has its bubble filled in and some version of “Charley Killian” is written, whether fully legible or correctly spelled, Killian will receive the vote. While his wife was giving birth, he received the news that he was an eligible write-in. He then had to figure out how to actually run for office. He had originally been convinced that he could run the entire campaign for $ 1,000 or less. However, since having a campaign manager and treasurer come on board, he has gained much more traction and community support, leaving that $1000 campaign idea behind.
One notable aspect of Killian is that he is not a career politician, nor does he claim to be. He understands that everyone has to start somewhere, and he has been attending all the Gaston County city council and board meetings to better understand what the county needs. His biggest ideal is to square away those needs before we move on to wants. He believes that studies need to be conducted and projects need to be more thoroughly understood before they are accepted into the county. In his mind, things like sports need to generate proven revenue and help the county. If they do not, spending needs to be diverted to areas such as water infrastructure and schooling, which he considers immediate needs.
Killian makes it clear when he wants to learn more about a topic before speaking, and one such topic is Gaston County’s odd police situation. Gaston County is the only county in the state to have both a police force and a sheriff's office. Killian has heard that they perform different duties, and if they do, he believes that they should be left as is. However, he would like to see a study to determine the overlap and whether both are necessary.
On taxes, Killian wants to make sure the county benefits from projects, not just from taxes. As mentioned earlier, he began his foray into politics because of the cluster neighborhood in the upper-right corner of the county. While Gaston County will receive taxes on this, the proximity to Lincoln County businesses will ensure that the majority of those tax dollars are spent on services to the area. This is why Lincoln County will receive the majority of the business and sales taxes, and he wants to ensure decisions like this are not made again.
Moving on to one of this year's hottest topics, education in Gaston County. Killian would like to see the school board work with the commissioners to get the issues resolved. He believes we should be looking at surrounding or similar counties because, despite having fewer resources, they are testing at higher rates. As with his other stances, he wants to ensure that proper research is done to choose the best path for growth in these areas.
Overall, Killian brings a homegrown feel to politics that some may find enjoyable. To support him, you can check out his campaign page here. Voter registration in Gaston County is open until October 9, 2026, with mail-in voting having already begun and ending on October 20, 2026. Early voting runs from Thursday, October 15, through Saturday, October 31. The traditional voting day will be on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and final results should be announced by November 13, 2026. To sign up to talk about your own platform, head to this article to book a time to visit us in the studio. All political affiliations and positions are welcome to speak.
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