Dan Besse

Biography

Dan Besse is a Winston-Salem City Councilman and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

Early Life and Education

Daniel Vaughn Besse was born in Hickory on Dec. 28, 1954, to Jim and Peggy Besse. His father worked for the state Employment Security Commission; his mother was an elementary school principal.

He graduated from Hickory High School in 1973.

He earned a bachelor of arts in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1977. He then earned a law degree from UNC Law School in 1980.

Family

He is married to Kay House, a retired attorney.

Professional Career

During law school, he was executive coordinator for the Conservation Council of North Carolina.

After graduating, he worked as co-director for the N.C. Public Interest Research Group.

From 1983 to 1993, he worked for Pamlico Sound Legal Services, a legal aid group based in New Bern. He served as a staff attorney and a special projects director on workplace health issues.

In 1993, he moved to Winston-Salem. Since then, he has done legal and contract work as a private attorney for the Conservation Council, Planned Parenthood and other nonprofits.

Political Career

Besse first registered as a Republican in 1972 and did not become a Democrat until 1993. In 1990, he donated to state Senate candidate Phil Walker, a Republican who lost to Beverly Perdue.

He's served on the state Democratic Executive Committee since 1995. 

He ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for the N.C. House in 1998, losing to incumbent Republican Lyons Gray.

Over the years, he's served on various state commissions, including the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (1985 to 1993) and the N.C. Environmental Management Commission (1993 to 2005).

He was first elected as a Democrat to the Winston-Salem City Council in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. In office, he has worked on neighborhood safety, local transportation issues and greenways development.

2008 Campaign

He is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

He has been endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of North Carolina and the Conservation PAC.

In the Democratic primary, he faces Canton Mayor Pat Smathers, Raleigh attorney Hampton Dellinger and state Sen. Walter Dalton.

Research and reporting by Ryan Teague Beckwith. 

Occupation

Contact Info

Email: coordinator@danbesse.org

Education

Military

Issues

How will you measure success in your first year in office?

If we have a plan underway to substantially improve coverage of North Carolinians with affordable health care that will be a success for my first year.

Tell us about something you did for someone else.

I helped get a good progressive Democrat elected to the Forsyth County School Board, and she is making a difference for a lot of students in our county.

What is the biggest challenge facing North Carolina? Your county? Your district?

Our leading issue is dealing with the challenges of growth over the coming generation. We are adding approximately 4 million people in the first 30 years of this century, and we're not ready. We've got to strengthen our transportation planning, our water resources planning and our education and health care system planning, or we are going to face disaster in any one of those areas.

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