Shelly Willingham

Democratic Party

Candidate, North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

Tenure

2015 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

11

Predecessor:Joe Tolson (D)

Compensation

Base salary

$13,951/year

Per diem

$104/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Next election

March 3, 2026

Contact

Official website

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal X

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Shelly Willingham (Democratic Party) is a member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives, representingDistrict 23. He assumed office on January 1, 2015. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Willingham (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to theNorth Carolina House of Representatives to representDistrict 23. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary onMarch 3, 2026.^[source]

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Willingham was assigned to the following committees:

• Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee,Chair
• Appropriations Committee
• Appropriations on Transportation Committee
• Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform
• Federal Relations and American Indian Affairs Committee
• Insurance Committee,Vice Chair
• Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee
• State Personnel Committee

2021-2022

Willingham was assigned to the following committees:

• Appropriations on Transportation Committee
• Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform
• Insurance Committee,Vice chair
• Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee
• Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee,Vice chair
• State Personnel Committee
• Appropriations Committee

2019-2020

Willingham was assigned to the following committees:

• Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee
• Appropriations on Transportation Committee
• Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform
• Appropriations Committee
• Insurance Committee
• Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee
• House State and Local Government Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Willingham served on 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

2026

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

Brent Roberson (R) is running in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Brent Roberson (R)

---

	There are noincumbents in this race.
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Democratic primary

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham (D) andPatricia Smith (D) are running in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Shelly Willingham
		Patricia Smith

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Abbie Lane (D)

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled.Brent Roberson (R) advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 without appearing on the ballot.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

2024

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham defeatedBrent Roberson in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shelly Willingham (D)	56.5	25,140
		Brent Roberson (R)	43.5	19,390

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,530
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham defeatedAbbie Lane in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shelly Willingham	78.8	6,769
		Abbie Lane	21.2	1,816

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,585
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.Brent Roberson advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

2022

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham defeatedJames Crowell Proctor in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shelly Willingham (D)	54.4	16,488
	Submit photo	James Crowell Proctor (R)	45.6	13,809

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,297
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Abbie Lane (Independent)

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. IncumbentShelly Willingham advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.James Crowell Proctor advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Campaign finance

2020

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham defeatedClaiborne Holtzman andAbbie Lane in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shelly Willingham (D)	58.8	21,754
		Claiborne Holtzman (R)	39.6	14,656
		Abbie Lane (G)	1.7	612

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 37,022
= 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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. IncumbentShelly Willingham advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.Claiborne Holtzman advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Green primary election

The Green primary election was canceled.Abbie Lane advanced from the Green primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23.

Campaign finance

2018

See also:North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham defeatedClaiborne Holtzman in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shelly Willingham (D)	60.9	15,959
		Claiborne Holtzman (R)	39.1	10,266

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,225
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

IncumbentShelly Willingham advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Shelly Willingham

---

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

Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23

Claiborne Holtzman advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Claiborne Holtzman

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theNorth Carolina House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on March 15, 2016, and the general election was held onNovember 8, 2016.^[1] The candidate filing deadline was December 21, 2015.^[2]

IncumbentShelly Willingham ran unopposed in the North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 general election.^[3][4]

North Carolina House of Representatives, District 23 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Shelly WillinghamIncumbent (unopposed)
Source:North Carolina State Board of Elections

IncumbentShelly Willingham ran unopposed in the North Carolina House of Representatives District 23 Democratic primary.^[5][6]

North Carolina House of Representatives, District 23 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Shelly WillinghamIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for theNorth Carolina House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 6, 2014. The general election took place onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 28, 2014.Shelly Willingham andRusty Holderness defeatedTaro Knight andBronson Williams in the Democratic primary. Willingham defeated Holderness in the July 15 run-off primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

North Carolina House of Representatives, District 23 Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Shelly Willingham(advanced to runoff)	35.6%	2,978
Rusty Holderness(advanced to runoff)	30.4%	2,543
Taro Knight	20.5%	1,715
Bronson Williams	13.5%	1,126
Total Votes		8,362

North Carolina House of Representatives, District 23, Run-off Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Shelly Willingham(advanced to general election)	52.2%	2,702
Rusty Holderness	47.8%	2,478
Total Votes		5,180

Endorsements

In 2014, Willingham's endorsements included the following:^[12]

• State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC)

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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2024

Shelly Willingham did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Shelly Willingham did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Shelly Willingham did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: 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.

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

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

See also

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External links

Footnotes

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