Republican nominee for North Carolina Governor Lt. Governor Dan Forest hosted an ice cream social campaign event at Simply Natural Creamery & Jersey Farm in Ayden, North Carolina.

A few hundred people who attended the event, including Karen Kozel, who is running for North Carolina’s fifth district senate seat against Senator Don Davis, and Jimmy Dixon, a member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing House District 4, which covers Duplin County and part of Onslow County.

“When our founding fathers went through the process of forming the documents we try to live by today, they had such a man in mind as Dan Forest,” said Dixon.

Forest gained national attention for challenging Governor Roy Cooper’s authority to close businesses during a pandemic and was called out on Twitter and other social media platforms. Forest suggested that the dangers of the virus to most Americans had been exaggerated.  

“Right now, if we do not win in November, you may not have another free and fair election again in your life,” said Forest to a crowd of unmasked supporters who also did not practice social distancing. 

In June 2020, Forest sued Cooper over the COVID-19 related executive orders because Cooper issued the orders without the concurrence of the Council of State. This week he lost that case and, according to WRAL, is dropping the suit.

“How un-American is it when the government tells you that you can’t earn a living, you can’t make a living to put food on the table and to provide for your family. When in the history of America has that ever happened?” asked Forest at the ice cream social. 

Forest’s grassroots campaign has been overshadowed by the pandemic. His opponent is frequently on television with a platform designed to reach all the residents of North Carolina while Forest has ventured into different cities to reach voters face-to-face.  

“Why? Because the ideology that is running America right now, that is sweeping across our country, is Marxism. It’s not even socialism, its Marxism. We’re talking about communism. That’s what is going on in the United States right now,” said Forest. 

According to a High Point University Poll in late July, North Carolina registered voters give Gov. Roy Cooper a job approval rating of 50 percent, with 40 percent saying they disapprove. Only 10 percent did not offer an opinion either way. On the third night of demonstrations in Raleigh in the wake of the death of George Floyd, Governor Cooper came out of the Executive Mansion and marched with a group protesting. The controversial protests turned violent resulting in several arrests and destruction of property across the city. 

“You have a guarantee from me, when I’m governor I will never let anarchist smash our buildings. When I’m governor I’ll never tell a business owner they can’t make a living or provide for their family,” said Forest.

One of the largest issues facing North Carolina voters in the 2020 election is whether or not their children can return to schools or continue with virtual learning at home. Governor Cooper went with a hybrid Plan B approach that gave school districts the option to embrace remote learning.  

“We’ve been a strong proponent of getting our kids back in school. There is zero science. I would ask anyone to find the science that says our kids should not be back in school. Kids all over the world are back in schools,” said Forest. “A child under 17 years of age is 17 times more likely to contract the seasonal flu than coronavirus, so we don’t do this for the flu, we shouldn’t be doing it now.”

Forest's message is the same as what he will do should he beat Cooper in the November election. “Open the economy, open the state, open the schools, open the gyms, open the bars and return freedom from the state.”