Democrats Abandon NC House Candidate as Controversial Posts Resurface

By Andrew Powell (/journals/andrew-powell)

Democratic candidate Shelly Headen will remain on the ballot in a competitive North Carolina state House race despite her party withdrawing support after a series of inflammatory social media posts resurfaced. According to Fox News, Headen, who is running in a November contest against Republican incumbent John Blust in House District 62, has faced condemnation from both the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus and the Guilford County Democratic Party. The posts attributed to Headen include a statement calling for an attack on U.S. soil and suggesting Alabama and Louisiana as preferred targets. Other posts compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and made statements about supporters of the "Make America Great Again" movement. Another resurfaced post reportedly showed Headen at a memorial at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany alongside language saying Trump supporters belonged there. Headen has disputed that particular post, telling the Greensboro News & Record that she believed the wording had been added to an authentic photograph. The controversy prompted Democratic officials to cut ties with her campaign. The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus said the posts were unacceptable and that they did not reflect the standards it expects from its candidates. The Guilford County Democratic Party also announced that it was withdrawing financial, operational and organizational support for Headen. Party officials said the comments did not represent the organization's values. Despite the party's decision, Headen remains a candidate because the deadline for withdrawing from the race has passed and ballots have already been finalized and distributed. State reporting confirms that she remains the Democratic nominee facing Blust. Headen has offered differing responses to the resurfaced posts. She told WFDD that she did not remember making some of the statements, apologized to people who were offended and said she understood why Democratic officials withdrew their backing. In an interview with The Assembly, however, Headen described the posts as "a few angry moments" and defended her broader political opposition to Trump and the MAGA movement. The controversy has also drawn attention from Republican officials, including North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall, who publicly criticized Headen's comments. Separately, Headen has faced scrutiny over 2024 law-enforcement reports involving her and her husband. She has said the incident involved an argument during a difficult period in their marriage and alleged that her husband grabbed her before she called 911. For now, Headen's name remains on the November ballot, even though the Democratic organizations that previously supported her campaign have withdrawn their backing. Watch the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrNTKAeLMY