Libertarian Party

About the Candidate

Phillip Rhodes was born in July of 1973 in Wilmington, North Carolina, the son of Sidney “Buddy” Rhodes and Teresa Rhodes. Phillip grew up in rural Brunswick County, between Shallotte and Holden Beach. After graduating from West Brunswick High School in 1991 he enrolled at Brunswick Community College and became an active member of Civietown Volunteer Fire Department. Between 1991 and 1999 he held numerous positions with the volunteer fire department, including a term as Assistant Fire Chief between 1998 and 1999, and a brief stint as Acting Fire Chief. After receiving his North Carolina Fire and Rescue Commission certification as a Fire Instructor II, Phillip was active in teaching firefighting classes for BCC. Phillip led all members of the department in number of calls responded to in 1998. Phillip graduated from Brunswick Community College with an Associate Degree in General Education in 1995, and enrolled at UNC Wilmington as a Computer Science major. After two semesters at UNC-W he withdrew to return to work, and later enrolled at Brunswick Community College majoring in Computer Programming. After moving to Chapel Hill in 2000, Phillip began a career as a Software Engineer and enrolled at Wake Technical Community College to finish his Computer Programming degree. He graduated from Wake Tech in 2004 with an Associate Degree in Computer Proramming, then re-enrolled at Wake Tech to earn a degree in High Performance Computing, graduating in 2006. Phillip became active in the Libertarian Party in the late 1990s, after discovering their principled, freedom and liberty based position. A long-time activist, Phillip volunteered with the Michael Badnarik for President campaign in 2004, and has assisted the Libertarian Party of North Carolina at various demonstrations, petition drives and outreach events. Having grown up poor in the rural countryside, Phillip has seen the difficulties that are faced by regular people trying to work their way out of poverty. He understands that the hard-working, innovative people of North Carolina do not need handouts and socialist programs, but simply need the freedom afforded by living in a free and open society, in order to build better lives for themselves. Phillip is currently residing in Chapel Hill, and is standing for the office of Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina as a candidate of the Libertarian Party.