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Charles Smith (North Carolina state representative)
Charles Smith (Democratic Party) is a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 44. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Smith (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 44. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Charles Smith was born in Fayetteville, 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
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
Smith was assigned to the following committees:
- Appropriations Committee
- Appropriations on General Government Committee
- Families, Children, and Aging Policy Committee
- State Government Committee
- Wildlife Resources Committee
- Military and Veterans Affairs Committee
Sponsored legislation
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 44
Incumbent Charles Smith defeated Freddie de la Cruz in the general election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Charles Smith (D) | 62.3 | 20,941 |
| Freddie de la Cruz (R) | 37.7 | 12,683 | ||
| Total votes: 33,624 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Charles 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 defeated Angel 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 | ||
| Total votes: 38 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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 | ||
| ✔ | | Charles Smith (D) | 100.0 | 14,903 |
| Total votes: 14,903 | |||
| = 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 44
Charles Smith defeated Terry Johnson in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Charles Smith | 61.8 | 3,650 |
| Terry Johnson | 38.2 | 2,259 | ||
| Total votes: 5,909 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Charles Smith did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Charles Smith completed Ballotpedia'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.
| Collapse all
- 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.
(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.
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
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.
Scorecards
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.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the North Carolina State Legislature was in session from April 24 to December 13.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the North Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 11 to October 25.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 |
Officeholder North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 17, 2021
- ↑ 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 - |
