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Deb Butler

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Deb Butler
Image of Deb Butler

Democratic Party

North Carolina House of Representatives District 18
Tenure

2017 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

8

Compensation

Base salary

$13,951/year

Per diem

$104/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Appointed

February 6, 2017

Education

Bachelor's

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1983

Law

Wake Forest University School of Law, 1986

Personal
Birthplace
Columbia, S.C.
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Campaign TikTok

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Deb Butler (Democratic Party) is a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 18. She assumed office on February 6, 2017. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Butler (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 18. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Deb Butler was born in Columbia, South Carolina. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1983 and a J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1986. Her career experience includes working as an attorney.[1]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Butler was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Butler was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Butler was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

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

North Carolina committee assignments, 2017
• Aging
• Finance
• Judiciary IV
• State and Local Government I
• State Personnel

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 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 18

Incumbent Deb Butler defeated Wallace West in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Deb Butler
Deb Butler (D)
 
82.7
 
33,008
Image of Wallace West
Wallace West (R) (Write-in) Candidate Connection
 
14.9
 
5,967
 Other/Write-in votes
 
2.4
 
955

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 39,930
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Deb Butler advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Butler in this election.

2022

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18

Incumbent Deb Butler defeated John Hinnant in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Deb Butler
Deb Butler (D) Candidate Connection
 
53.3
 
19,190
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
John Hinnant (R)
 
46.7
 
16,806

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 35,996
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Deb Butler advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. John Hinnant advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18.

Campaign finance

2020

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18

Incumbent Deb Butler defeated Warren Kennedy in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Deb Butler
Deb Butler (D) Candidate Connection
 
59.8
 
25,829
Image of Warren Kennedy
Warren Kennedy (R) Candidate Connection
 
40.2
 
17,336

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 43,165
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Deb Butler advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Warren Kennedy advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18.

Campaign finance

2018

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18

Incumbent Deb Butler defeated Louis Harmati and Joseph Sharp in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Deb Butler
Deb Butler (D)
 
62.4
 
17,812
Image of Louis Harmati
Louis Harmati (R)
 
34.5
 
9,835
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Joseph Sharp (L)
 
3.1
 
885

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 28,532
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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 18

Incumbent Deb Butler advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on May 8, 2018.

Candidate
✔
Image of Deb Butler
Deb Butler

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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 18

Louis Harmati advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 18 on May 8, 2018.

Candidate
✔
Image of Louis Harmati
Louis Harmati

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.

2012

See also: North Carolina State Senate elections, 2012

Butler ran in the 2012 election for North Carolina State Senate District 9. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on May 8 and was defeated by incumbent Thomas Goolsby (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[2]

North Carolina State Senate, District 9, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngThomas Goolsby Incumbent 54.2% 52,955
     Democratic Deb Butler 45.8% 44,817
Total Votes 97,772

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Deb Butler did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Deb Butler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Butler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Deb Butler knows the value of hard work because she worked in restaurants, on landscape crews, in hospitals, and in furniture factories to afford her education. Those efforts yielded a BA from the University of Tennessee and well as a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law. As a long-time small business owner, she believes very much that this country is still the land of opportunity, acknowledging, however, that those opportunities have become more difficult to access for far too many of our citizens.

Representative Butler has received the internationally acclaimed Tammy Baldwin /Breakout Award from the Victory Fund 2019, The Indyweek 19 in 2019 acknowledgment, InStyle Magazine’s “Badass Women” issue inclusion, The Cucalourus Leadership Award among many other designations for her viral defense of the NC infamous veto override vote. Her phrase #Iwillnotyield has become a rallying cry across the country. Our own Governor Cooper has called Representative Butler a “progressive sparkplug”. Representative Butler says that she wears that label with great pride.

  • We should elect people to represent us who are committed to integrity and honesty, facts and science. The goal must be to elevate the public discourse in order to return to our civil society.
  • It is critically important that we work with urgency to preserve our natural environment. We should embrace the precautionary principle such that manufacturers must prove the safety of their processes before using public trust resources.
  • Money in politics is corrupting the process. Campaign finance reform is essential to insure that we are electing the best qualified candidates, not those who can raise the most money.
I want to see the end of cash bail for nonviolent offenders.

I want to reimagine the dischrge permitting process to protect our natural environment.
I want to incrementally raise the minimum wage to a living wage.
I want to expand Medicaid in NC.
I want topass statewide non-discrimination legilsation.
I want to invest in NC schools and teachers in a more robust fashion.
I want to foster investment in renewable energy sources.
I want to decriminalize the personal use of small amounts of cannabis.

In no particular order....

I am always moved by "ordinary people" when they do extraordinary things. Like the firefighter who repels over the side of a skyscraper to save someone from a burning building, or the heroes of 911 who died trying to save others. The stories of heroic people who do things for the sake of others. The moments of self-sacrifice when people rise to the challenge when the circumstances require it.
Intelligence

Integrity
Honesty
Work Ethic
Approachability

In no particular order
I suppose I would like for people to know that I did the best job I could for them. That I truly cared and worked for policies that I believed would improve their lives. I hope to have been a role model and perhaps to have inspired young folks, especially little girls so that they wouldn't be afraid to try and succeed.
I remember the first moonwalk. It was beyond comprehension. I was 8 years old.
The Legislature makes the law, the Judiciary interprets the law, and the Governor as the Executive, implements the law and has the authority to veto legislation that he or she finds unacceptable. This is the proper distributuion of power that serves as the check and balance necessary in government.
No. You just need to be a hardworker who is committed to learning and doing what's best for your constituents in your considered judgment.
I favor an independent commission who is charged with following the mapmaking criteria as determined by the Judiciary.
I serve on Finance, Transporation, Commerce, Banking, and Judiciary. These committees are in line with the work I have done as an Attorney so I enjoy them and believe that I make meaningful contributions accordingly.
Never say never I suppose.
I think the lion's share of emergency powers should reside in the Executive Branch. We saw during Covid as well as during natural disasters such as hurricanes, for example, that decisions need to be made swiftly and nimbly. I think it's too difficult to make these life or death decisions by committee.
It is essential and we do not do enough of it.

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.

2020

Candidate Connection

Deb Butler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Butler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Deborah "Deb" Armfield Butler is a lawyer currently serving as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives representing House District 18 located in eastern North Carolina . Representative Butler was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper In February of 2017 to fill the balance of that term when her predecessor Secretary Susi Hamilton was appointed to the Governor's cabinet.

Representative Butler was elected to her peers to a leadership position , Democratic Whip, upon winning re-election to the seat in 2018. representative Butler is associated with the phrase, "I will not yield!" because of her strong and defiant floor debate of what has been called an "ambush vote" taken by the Speaker of the House Tim Moore with only 9 members of the Democratic Caucus in attendance. The viral video of that debate has been seen millions of times and the phrase has become a rallying cry and can be found on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Butler was awarded the Tammy Baldwin breakout award from the Victory Fund, is a Cuculourus Leadership Fellow, and often speaks at conferences, rallies and political events.
  • North Carolina must provide healthcare coverage to its citizens who are in the coverage gap. It is morally imperative, but it is economically wise as well. Expanding medicaid can be done without any tax burden to our citizens. There are 37 states that have already done the expansion to the benefit of their people. NC should do the same because the dollars have already been paid by North Carolinians and they should come back to NC. People are rationing insulin and not getting the preventive care they need. Further, they are using the ER for treatment which is the worst possible course because it is expensive and crowds the facility for those suffering true emergencies. Expanding medicaid would also help rural hospitals who are struggling to
  • North Carolina's teachers are being treated as second class citizens. They are being asked to do more with less. Their masters pay has been taken. They have larger class sizes and not enough teaching assistants. Their pay is well below the national average and per pupil spending is inadequate. Teachers do not have adequate supplies in some areas and yet we entrust them with our most valuable resource, our children, and ask them to mold our future. We must stop the proliferation of charter schools who often function for profit at the expense of our children. And we must issue a school bond to meet the needs of a growing economy. There is an 8 billion dollar need right now for schools facilities. We need to prioritize public education again i
  • Climate change is real. The seas are rising. Our water supply is being compromised. It is an emergency that needs our full attention. We have got to repeal any legislation that does not allow us to hold polluters and those holding discharge permits accountable for damaging our public trust resources. Furthermore, we must embrace the precautionary principle that says if you want to do business in NC, you must prove that your manufacturing processes are safe and that any by-product, discharge or emission has been thoroughly and independently tested BEFORE a permit is issued. We must embrace the science of resiliency and prepare for storms that are becoming more violent and more frequent and we will have to study the best way to retreat from t
As a member of the LGBTQ community, I am passionate about equality for North Carolinians. It is time that we pass statewide nondiscrimination legislation that would protect LGBTQ citizens from discrimination particularly in the areas of housing, employment, finance, foster care, adoption, and so many others. This is an initiative I will continue to pursue.
Integrity. Work ethic. Empathy.
I think it might have been Oprah Winfrey that said people may not remember precisely the things you did in your life, but they will always remember the way you made them feel. I hope that I never lose sight of making the people I serve feel well represented. That they know I want what's best for everyone and that I was committed, accessible and always really cared about doing the best job possible for them. It's not a complex legacy, but that would be a good one.
I remember at about 12 the resignation of Richard Nixon. I recall that I had never seen a headline that bold or with such big print. I also remember the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King although those memories are not as clear. I suspect my mother shielded me from those for obvious reasons.
I do think it is helpful, but not essential. Lawmaking is just that and therefore the terminology and process can be complex. A legal background such as mine is again helpful, but I have many colleagues who do not have that background and they are great legislators.
Absolutely. First of all, most are very fine and interesting people. Furthermore, no legislation ever gets passed without the collective effort of legislators. Relationships, professionalism... the art of disagreement and negotiation are all essential.
My current committees were assigned by the Speaker and given the current rancorous condition of NC politics, I was assigned nothing I asked for so being part of a minority party these days means extreme marginalization. It's a shame.
Perhaps.

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.

2012

Butler's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[3]

Let’s Get Back to Work

  • Excerpt: "Deb Butler will make sure we make the investments needed for our future. She will make sure our area has the infrastructure we need to recruit and retain the best employers and that we don’t play politics when American companies like Caterpillar and Continental Tire want to bring good-paying jobs here."

Education Moves Us Forward

  • Excerpt: "Cutting education to balance the budget is not the answer. We must reduce class size and make sure our schools and teachers have every resource available so our kids have the best education possible. We must make our local universities and community colleges accessible and affordable for more citizens."

Common Sense Solutions for Women, Seniors and Families

  • Excerpt: "Instead of focusing on a radical social agenda, Deb will listen to what is important right here at home in New Hanover County. She will use common sense to tackle our state’s greatest problems. She believes women deserve to make their own choices. Seniors deserve to age with dignity and working families deserve every opportunity to succeed."

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 the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Deb Butler campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* North Carolina House of Representatives District 18Won general$33,720 $24,164
2022North Carolina House of Representatives District 18Won general$241,760 $242,072
2020North Carolina House of Representatives District 18Won general$203,034 N/A**
Grand total$478,514 $266,235
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
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

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

A scorecard 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 to editor@ballotpedia.org.


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External links

Candidate

North Carolina House of Representatives District 18
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 3, 2022
    2. ↑ North Carolina Board of Elections, "Candidate lists," accessed March 5, 2012
    3. ↑ DebButler4Senate.com, "Issues," accessed November 1, 2012

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    -     		North Carolina House of Representatives District 18
    2017-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -


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