Republicans Wellie Jackson of Clinton and Jerol Kivett of Salemburg will oppose each other in the Republican primary for Rep. Brisson’s District 22 seat, which represents parts of Bladen and Sampson counties.

The winner of that primary will run against Democrat Jimmy Melvin of Roseboro in the general election on November 3.

Candidate filing ends for 2026 elections

Jimmy Melvin is from Roseboro, North Carolina.

Now is the time to finally address this serious, well-documented source of industrial pollution that endangers clean water and communities like mine all across the country. The EPA must modernize dangerously outdated technology standards to ensure that impacted communities no longer bear the burden of industry pollution that jeopardizes our waterways, economies, and health.

Jimmy Melvin is a Reverend of Mt. Zion Church and has worked with the Waterkeeper Alliance to raise awareness about the water pollution problems affecting North Carolina’s communities.

Opinion: My brother's keeper: NC pastor takes on hog farms

Reverend Jimmy Melvin (left) is the pastor at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church, which is surrounded by sprayfields from hog operations in Magnolia. The church community recently learned their well water was contaminated, so they set up a tank of clean drinking water inside (right) and drilled a new, deeper well outside.

The sinister hog industry of eastern North Carolina

Jimmy is a pastor at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church. He has worked with Waterkeeper Alliance.

OPINION: 'My brother's keeper.' NC pastor takes on hog farms

North Carolina's hog problem - Southern Environmental Law Center

Jimmy is a pastor at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church.

Jerol Kivett - Ballotpedia

Jimmy is running for political office for the first time.

2026 North Carolina General Election

As of January 5, 2026, Jimmy Melvin did not have a website or any information online.

Economy

Now, the North Carolina legislature is considering the NC Farm Act (S. 605), which includes a provision that would give blanket approval to future biogas projects. Each biogas project is different and must require the input of the people who will be affected. Blanket permission will just add more to the backs of people like our parishioners, who have worshipped in our church for generations and also borne so much of the environmental burden of industrial agriculture.

Minister: Hog operations have harmed Sampson-Duplin church, but NC legislators have turned deaf ear

We have seen with our own eyes industry spraying the fields next to our church with untreated hog waste, where it runs off into our groundwater or fills the air we breathe without regard to the impacts on our environment, water and communities. We also have several slaughterhouses in the surrounding area that are discharging even more harmful pollutants into our rivers, lakes and streams. Our communities need the strongest possible protections against industrial agriculture pollution so that we don’t continue to pay the price for large corporation’s cost-saving shortcuts and insatiable greed.

We have already been forced to clean up dangerous industrial pollution, spending nearly $4,000 of our church’s funds to dig a new water well. We shouldn’t have had to shoulder this cost and deserve safeguards to hold polluters accountable and prevent pollution in the first place.

The EPA needs to adopt stronger pollution standards for slaughterhouses

Right now the Environmental Protection Agency is considering new water pollution control standards for slaughterhouses and rendering plants. The current proposal contains three options, but the one they are proposing to select is the weakest and would still allow thousands of these facilities to continue business-as-usual, with many dumping pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus into public wastewater treatment plants that often lack the ability to treat the industry’s waste.

Opposes blanket approval for future biogas projects and calls for input from affected people.

Advocates for stronger protections and safeguards to hold industrial-agriculture polluters accountable and prevent pollution.

Calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt stronger pollution standards for slaughterhouses.

- Opposes blanket approval for future biogas projects and calls for input from affected people.
- Advocates for stronger protections and safeguards to hold industrial-agriculture polluters accountable and prevent pollution.
- Calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt stronger pollution standards for slaughterhouses.

Energy & the Environment

Healthcare

Voting & Elections

Public Safety

Education

Foreign Policy and Immigration

Facebook

Jimmy Melvin

As of January 5, 2026, Jimmy Melvin’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Jimmy is a reverend at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church in Clinton, North Carolina.

Anything but Green: How Hog Waste and Biogas Is Threatening ...

Jimmy Melvin is running in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 22 on March 3, 2026.

For Candidate Jimmy Melvin on Issue energy-and-environment:  
Advocates for the modernization of EPA technology standards to reduce industry pollution affecting communities and waterways.

Isaac Brickman

Buket Urgen

Wellie Jackson

- Your State Representative participates in the legislative process at the state level. They are one of 129 members of the North Carolina House of Representatives. The North Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly (the state's lawmaking body).
- Your State Representative drafts laws, approves budgets, has oversight of the state executive branch, and debates and votes on proposed laws.
- In addition to drafting and voting on bills, your State Representative can serve on committees. This is important because many bills can be stalled in committee, preventing them making it to a vote.
- Your State Representative is responsible for representing your interests. They also are responsible for helping you navigate the state's services and bringing back resources to your district.
- State Representatives are elected to a 2-year term. There is no term limit.

Your representative and state lawmaker in North Carolina House of Representatives.