out the races for statewide offices. Some contacted us that they had made decisions about who to support different than I.

I respect their decision and yours as to who you choose in the process. Voting is a personal decision-making process. 

My goal is simply to encourage you to vote according to your best judgement. 

The way I decided my choices was a careful evaluation of what each is saying in their campaign.

Some are important and some are less important, while even other issues are of no issue in an election.

For me, I focus on my basic beliefs as a standard to follow. I first eliminate any candidate that does not hold the same shared values I hold. 

In your case, you may more closely align with the Democratic Party while I, the Republican Party. We make those decisions based on the overall views of the role of government in your family’s life and your business. 

Each Republican candidate, I believe, fits in this basic conservative mode of thought process.

The next step for me is to listen to the issues on which a candidate focuses. For instance, one candidate for governor and another for lieutenant governor have made monuments to Confederate

Another instance deals with tax issues.  One Republican candidate for governor is campaigning on raising the tax on gasoline, but the General Assembly has rejected that idea in the past.

We need a governor that is focused on growing our economy. Ed Gillespie has earned my support.

Frank Ruff represents Charlotte in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.