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Charles Smith (North Carolina state representative)

From Ballotpedia
Charles Smith
Image of Charles Smith
North Carolina House of Representatives District 44
Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Compensation

Base salary

$13,951/year

Per diem

$104/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Emory and Henry College, 2014

Law

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2017

Personal
Birthplace
Fayetteville, N.C.
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Charles Smith (Democratic Party) is a member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives, representingDistrict 44. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Smith (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to theNorth Carolina House of Representatives to representDistrict 44. He won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.

Biography

Charles Smith was born inFayetteville, North Carolina. Smith earned a bachelor's degree from Emory and Henry College in 2014 and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017.[1] His career experience includes working as the Cumberland County assistant district attorney and then as an attorney in private practice.[2]

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Smith was assigned to the following committees:


Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

IncumbentCharles Smith defeatedFreddie de la Cruz in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Smith
Charles Smith (D)
 
62.3
 
20,941
Freddie de la Cruz (R)
 
37.7
 
12,683

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 33,624
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. IncumbentCharles Smith advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.Freddie de la Cruz advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44.

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

Christina Aragues defeatedAngel Yaklin in the Libertarian primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on March 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔Christina Aragues
 
55.3
 
21
Angel Yaklin
 
44.7
 
17

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 38
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Smith in this election.

2022

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

Charles Smith won election in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Smith
Charles Smith (D) Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
14,903

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 14,903
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

Charles Smith defeatedTerry Johnson in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on May 17, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Smith
Charles Smith Candidate Connection
 
61.8
 
3,650
Terry Johnson
 
38.2
 
2,259

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 5,909
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance


Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Charles Smith did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Charles Smith completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smith's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all |Collapse all

Born and raised in Cumberland County, I have a strong appreciation for our community and longstanding desire to serve the area. My formative years were spent in Fayetteville, NC; after which I attended Emory and Henry College to fulfill a childhood dream of playing college basketball. After undergrad, I returned to my home state and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for law school. Immediately after earning my law degree, I returned to Cumberland County to serve as an Assistant District Attorney. After years in the District Attorney's Office, I transitioned into private practice with The Charleston Group, in Fayetteville. While working for The Charleston Group, I have gained experience representing a variety of government entities, as well as experience in administrative law, corporate law, and general civil litigation. Upon returning to Cumberland County, I was also lucky enough to meet my wife, Mary Kelly, a Fayetteville native and a passionate public servant. She and I choose to live in Fayetteville and will continue to pursue our careers and raise our family in this area. If given the opportunity to serve, I will work tirelessly and transparently to ensure that our community continues to progress.
  • Integrity: My thoughts and actions will be driven by honesty. In District 43 or in Raleigh, I will do the decent thing. What is right is more important than who is right.
  • Accountability: I invite voters to hold me accountable to their expectations, as I do the same for the other legislators, organizations, and forces that impact their daily lives. With improvement in technology, accessing representatives is easier than ever. I will maintain and encourage communication with the community.
  • Transparency: I will keep voters informed of issues before the General Assembly and seek to listen and understand before acting. I will communicate issues at hand in a way that all can understand and feel connected. No law degree is needed to be an active and informed citizen.
(1) Healthcare: Every North Carolinian deserves access to affordable and quality healthcare. Even after the passage of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"), there are hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians that cannot afford private health insurance, but also remain ineligible for Medicaid (the "coverage gap"). As such, North Carolina hospitals and emergency rooms are overcrowded and frequently required to provide significant amounts of uncompensated care each to individuals in this coverage gap.

(2) Red Flag Laws: With recent increases in gun violence across the nation, I would strongly endorse the adoption of "red flag" laws in North Carolina. Such laws would allow for courts to temporarily block access to firearms for individuals deemed mentally unfit following a petition from family members or other persons. Red Flag laws would be temporary and subject to judicial review to ensure necessity. The procedure would be very similar to the involuntary commitment process, which also begins with a petition filed by a family member or medical professional and is subject to judicial review.

(3) Public Education: We must identify and provide necessary resources to ensure that all children, specifically children of historically marginalized populations, and those in rural or impoverished areas, have access to free, appropriate, and equitable education.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Ballotpedia LogoNote: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Charles Smith campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024*North Carolina House of Representatives District 44Won general$24,814 $27,616
2022North Carolina House of Representatives District 44Won general$54,663 $38,299
Grand total$79,478 $65,915
Sources:OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in North Carolina

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of North Carolina scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.


2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].   

In 2024, theNorth Carolina State Legislature was in session from April 24 to December 13.

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to family issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes related to business.


2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].   

In 2023, theNorth Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 11 to October 25.

Legislators are scored based on their stance related to healthcare costs.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to family issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes related to business.
Legislators are scored on their votes on environment and conservation issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.











See also


External links

Candidate

North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

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    North Carolina House of Representatives District 44

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    • Footnotes

    1. ↑Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 17, 2021
    2. ↑Charles Smith 2022 campaign website, "Meet Charles," accessed March 16, 2023

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    William Richardson (D)    		North Carolina House of Representatives District 44
    2023-Present    		Succeeded by
    -


    Leadership
    Speaker of the House:Destin Hall
    Majority Leader:Brenden Jones
    Minority Leader:Robert Reives
    Representatives
    District 1
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    Ya Liu (D)
    District 22
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    Vacant
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    Republican Party (71)
    Democratic Party (48)
    Vacancies (1)


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