Anthony "Tony" Emanuel Foriest was a Democratic member of the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

, representing the 24th district, where he served two terms.

Early life, education, and early career

Foriest was born in Ahoskie N.C. and raised in

Alamance County Alamance County (), from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 18, 2012. is a county in North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 171,415. Its county seat ...

. He was a member of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

for three years then attended The

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

where he attained a bachelor's degree. He later attended

Elon University Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or professional doctora ...

and earned a master's degree. He worked for the Xerox Corporation for 24 years in a number of management positions.

Political career

Foriest has been actively involved with the Democratic Party over a number of years, including, " ... he North Carolina Democratic Party .. served as chairman of the N.C. Senior Democrats, was a member of the N.C. Democratic Party executive committee and spent two terms as chairman of the Alamance County Democratic Party. During his time in office he voted for the North Carolina 2009

Racial Justice Act The North Carolina Racial Justice Act of 2009 prohibited seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of race. It passed both the North Carolina State Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives and was signed into law by Governor ...

which opposed the imposition of the death penalty on the basis of race. In 2012 the law was rolled back.

Life after politics

Foriest is retired and has continued his interest in improving race relations. In 2015 he took part in a Community Connections forum at Elon University' His advice was, “Read. Study. Get involved. And challenge the status quo.”

Most people find it very, very difficult to even talk about race, much less trying to solve some of the problems ... You have to understand it takes a tremendous amount of effort if we’re going to dispel some of the myths that have been perpetuated for several hundred years. People have to understand when you talk about race, it brings up some raw emotions because you’re dispelling things you have been taught, you have seen, you have learned to live with over the years.

The forum was so well attended that extra seating was brought in. He has become involved in helping the community with his membership of boards and charitable organizations.

Personal life

Foriest is married to Clara Foriest, a member of the Board of Visitors at Elon University, He has two children, Pamela and Brian, and one grandson, Trey. He lives in Graham, NC.

North Carolina Senate

Elections

2004 Challenged incumbent Republican State Senator Hugh Webster and lost 58%-42%. 2006 Filed for rematch against Webster and defeated him 51%-49%, a difference of just 460 votes. 2008 Won re-election to a second term defeating Republican Richard Gunn 53%-47%. 2010 Gunn filed for a rematch and defeated Foriest 53%-42%.

Committee assignments

*Appropriations/Base Budget Committee (Co-chairman) *Commerce Committee *Education Committee (Vice Chairman) *Finance Committee *Health Care Committee (Vice-chairman) *Pensions, Retirement, & Aging Committee (chairman)

2012 congressional election

In March 2012, Foriest filed to run in the newly redrawn

North Carolina's 6th congressional district North Carolina's 6th congressional district is located in north central portion of the state. As a result of court-mandated redistricting in 2019, it was shifted into the central Triad region and contains all of Guilford County and a portion ...

, held by Republican U.S. Congressman

Howard Coble John Howard Coble (March 18, 1931 – November 3, 2015) was an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for , serving from 1985 to 2015. He was a member of the Republican Party. The district includes all or portions of ten counties in ...

. Foriest was unopposed in the primary and was the Democratic nominee. He was defeated by Coble who obtained 61% of the vote to 39% to Foriest.

Religious, Civic and other Memberships

All entries without a citation Former Board Member, Alamance County Arts Council Former Board Member, Alamance County Citizens for Education Former Board Member, Alamance County Friendship Center Executive Committee, Alamance Achieves Board Member ACAC (Allied Churches of Alamance County) Board Member, Cone Health Alamance Regional Charitable Foundation Advisory Member, American National Bank Member, Board of Deacons, First Baptist Church Former Board Member, Democracy North Carolina Advisory Member, Elon Board of Visitors Member, First Baptist Church Former Board Member, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Former Chair, North Carolina Senior Democrats Former Board Member, United Way of Alamance County

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foriest, Anthony Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Living people 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people)