Gregory J. Brannon (born August 17, 1960) is an American physician and political activist. A native of Los Angeles, California, Brannon is a graduate of the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

and Chicago Medical School. After completing his

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

, Brannon established a private obstetrics practice in

Cary Cary may refer to: Places ;United States * Cary, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area * Cary, Miami County, Indiana * Cary, Maine * Cary, Mississippi * Cary, North Carolina ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. An ally of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...

, Brannon unsuccessfully sought the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nomination for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and the

2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic * 2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 1 ...

. He came in second place both times, losing the 2014 race to

Thom Tillis Thomas Roland Tillis (born August 30, 1960) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from North Carolina since 2015. A Republican, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2006, and began ser ...

and the 2016 race to

Richard Burr Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United S ...

Early life and education

Brannon was born in Inglewood, California, on August 17, 1960.Brannon again sets goal, this time for US Senate
Associated Press (March 30, 2014). Brannon was raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Brannon received his bachelor's degree from the

in 1982, his medical degree from Chicago Medical School in 1988, and completed his residency at University of Southern California Women's Hospital, Los Angeles, in 1992.

Medical and business career

After completing his residency, Brannon served as assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at

University of North Carolina School of Medicine The University of North Carolina School of Medicine is a professional school within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It offers a Doctor of Medicine degree along with combined Doctor of Medicine / Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of M ...

, with work at Wake Area Health Education Center. He is an

ob-gyn Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and ...

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest mun ...

,Gary D. Robertson
NC Supreme Court upholds civil judgment against Brannon
Associated Press (May 10, 2019). having entered private practice in 1993. In February 2014, a jury determined, in a civil case, that Brannon made false and misleading statements to potential investors of a technology company, which later went out of business. Brannon, who was a board member of the company, Neogence Enterprises, and was ordered to pay $250,000 to the investors, plus $132,000 in attorney fees and court costs. The jury verdict damaged Brannon's 2014 primary campaign for the U.S. Senate. The civil judgment against Brannon was upheld by the

North Carolina Court of Appeals The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was create ...

in 2016 and by the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

in 2019.

Political activism

A staunch critic of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, Brannon was an early leader in the

in North Carolina. Brannon is strongly anti-abortion. He opposes the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

, asserting that the law "attacks the fabric" of constitutional rights, and favors a largely unregulated health care market. He supports a return to the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...

and a phase-out of

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. In 2012, Brannon urged a vote for a third-party president candidate over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, asserting that "Casting a vote for either Obama or Romney will advance tyranny since both candidates are committed statists who despise the Constitution."Jim Morill
GOP hopeful said vote for Mitt Romney was vote for 'tyranny'
''Charlotte Observer'' (March 10, 2014). Brannon's comments garnered scrutiny in his 2014 Republican primary campaign. During his 2016 primary campaign, Brannon said he would work to abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), asserting that the agency was unconstitutional; during his campaign, Brannon acknowledged that he owed $175,000 in tax debt to the agency.

2014 U.S. Senate campaign

In 2013, Brannon announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent

Kay Hagan Janet Kay Hagan (née Ruthven; May 26, 1953 – October 28, 2019) was an American lawyer, banking executive, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previ ...

. He won the endorsements of

FreedomWorks FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representat ...

, U.S. Senators

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Lee began his career as a clerk for the U ...

and Rand Paul, and

RedState ''RedState'' is an American conservative political blog. Prior to 2017, it organized "RedState gatherings", a summer convention for conservative activists and grassroots political activism which featured many prominent public figures in conserv ...

Erick Erickson Erick Woods Erickson (born June 3, 1975) is a conservative American radio host and blogger. He hosts a three-hour weekday talk show on WSB 95.5 FM and 750 AM in Atlanta, which is syndicated to other radio stations around the U.S. He also write ...

. Brannon lost the primary to

, the speaker of the state House.North Carolina Primary Election Results
''New York Times'' (2014). Tillis received about 46% of the vote, Brannon about 27%, and Baptist pastor Mark Harris about 17.5%.

2016 U.S. Senate campaign

In December 2015, Brannon announced he would again run for the U.S. Senate in the 2016 election, challenging incumbent U.S. Senator

in the Republican primary. He lost to Burr in the 2016 Republican primary. Burr received about 61% of the vote, while Brannon received about 25%.North Carolina Primary Results
''New York Times'' (2016). Brannon later launched a weekly

conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

show.

Personal life

Brannon and his wife, Jody, have 7 children, three of whom are adopted. As a young adult, Brannon became an

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brannon, Greg 1960 births Living people 20th-century American physicians 20th-century Christians 21st-century American physicians 21st-century Christians Activists from California Activists from North Carolina American Christians American gun rights activists American libertarians American political candidates American radio hosts Homeschooling advocates Monetary reformers Non-interventionism North Carolina Republicans People from Los Angeles Physicians from North Carolina Tea Party movement activists University of Southern California alumni