Cheryl Caulfield
From Ballotpedia
Cheryl Caulfield is a member of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, representing District 1. She assumed office on December 6, 2022. Her current term ends in 2026.
Caulfield (Republican Party) is running for election to the North Carolina State Senate to represent District 18. She is on the ballot in the Republican primary on March 3, 2026.[source]
Caulfield completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cheryl Caulfield earned a bachelor's degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1988. Her career experience includes working as a senior mortgage analyst, small business owner, Wake County Public School System board member, and co-founder of a North Carolina school board coalition. She has been affiliated with the National School Board Coalition and the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network, a division of The John Locke Foundation.[1][2]
Elections
2026
See also: North Carolina State Senate 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.
General election for North Carolina State Senate District 18
Incumbent Terence Everitt (D) and Brad Hessel (L) are running in the general election for North Carolina State Senate District 18 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Terence Everitt (D) | |
 | Brad Hessel (L) | |
| ||||
 = 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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Democratic primary
The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled. Incumbent Terence Everitt (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Senate District 18 without appearing on the ballot.
Republican primary
Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 18
Cheryl Caulfield (R) and Chris Stock (R) are running in the Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 18 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Cheryl Caulfield | |
 | Chris Stock | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Libertarian Party primary
The Libertarian Party primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled. Brad Hessel (L) advanced from the Libertarian Party primary for North Carolina State Senate District 18 without appearing on the ballot.
Endorsements
To view Caulfield's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2022
See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Wake County Public School System, District 1
Cheryl Caulfield defeated Ben Clapsaddle in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cheryl Caulfield (Nonpartisan) | 58.5 | 24,776 |
 | Ben Clapsaddle (Nonpartisan) | 40.7 | 17,240 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 334 | ||
| Total votes: 42,350 | |||
| = 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 themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cheryl Caulfield completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Caulfield's responses.
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- Transparency and accountability must guide everything we do. When government is transparent, it creates meaningful dialogue and leads to real solutions, and accountability follows with lasting change. I have led with honesty, integrity, and grit throughout my life and during my three years on the WCPSS Board of Education, and I will continue to do so as your NC State Senator. While serving on the Board, I collaborated with the General Assembly on legislation that has since become proposed bills, one now signed into law, reinforcing the importance of open governance. Being responsible with taxpayer dollars means directing resources where they matter most and evaluating our effectiveness along the way.
- Restoring affordable living and safer communities improve the quality of life for our families. Lowering costs allows families to focus on what matters most and move beyond survival to true stability. This includes young people striving to buy their first home, working families trying to make ends meet, and seniors who spent decades paying off their homes only to be forced out by rising taxes, insurance and medical costs. Safety should be a given. We must support law enforcement with resources needed, while protecting families from human, organ and drug trafficking. At the same time, we should support municipalities by encouraging sustainable growth, strong infrastructure, and thoughtful planning that creates cohesive, thriving communities
- Our veterans, local businesses, and farmers are the backbone of our communities. They provide for our families, strengthen our economy, and are invested in our shared success. When they thrive, we all thrive. Protecting farmland preserves our agricultural heritage, especially for families struggling to pass generational land to their children. Our veterans sacrifice to protect our nation, yet too often their needs are overlooked while resources are directed elsewhere. It is our responsibility to stand with them. We must address veteran homelessness, job insecurity, and mental health challenges. I will advocate for strong, coordinated support so veterans, farmers, and small businesses receive the respect and resources they deserve.
I am most passionate about quality education. When we lead our children well, they thrive. Our children need strong life skills to prepare them for success, while it strengthens our community of future professionals and engaged citizens. Education shapes opportunity, purpose, and lifelong well-being. Every child deserves strong academics, high standards, and classrooms focused on learning. As a WCPSS Board member, I have stood for transparency, removing politics from the classroom, quality curriculum, respect for American heritage, closing academic gaps, and protecting the rights of our girls in sports and private spaces. I will continue to focus on quality education as your senator.
NC House Representative Erin Pare, NC State Senator Chris Measmer, NC House Representative John Torbett, NC State Auditor Dave Boliek, NC State Board of Education Dr. Olivia Oxendine, Wake County School Board Member Dr. Wing Ng, Former Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison, Wake Forest Town Commissioner Faith Cross, Zebulon Town Commissioner George Roa
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.
2022
Cheryl Caulfield completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Caulfield's responses.
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My husband and I moved to Wake Forest 16 years ago to start our family. We love our charming town feel, and we have watched our community grow in leaps and bounds, and have always tried to be a part of that growth, advocating for the community. I am a mom of two teen boys in Wake County Public Schools currently attending high school in Wake Forest. I have been very involved in many activities at their schools since pre-school. I have volunteered many hours working with students, teachers, PTA, and many school events, including sports and clubs, such as school plays and football. I also volunteered with a pilot program started at another local elementary school for Every Tray Counts, a wonderful program to teach the children about composting and more eco-friendly lunches. I earned my degree from F.I.T. and went on to Business Management at SUNY Farmingdale. I worked as a Senior Underwriter for over 16 years where I trained staff, opened a new branch, and reformed another. When my children were born I switched to property management allowing me the flexible schedule to raise my two active boys. While it allowed me more free time to volunteer at the schools, I also got to see the struggles our teachers and students face. I care about the real issues, and getting to the source of the problem and resolutions. I see the need to make changes, remove the politics from the classroom, and get back to the basics.
- Teachers need our support. That starts with understanding the real issues, what they need and how to get it. First, we need to listen to our teachers. We pay $100,000’s to consultants, yet teachers are our front-line, and they know what works in the classroom. Their #1 problem is no support from admin., and they feel their hands are tied. Another struggle they have is discipline in the classroom. This interrupts class and makes for bad learning environment, and work setting. They do not have the resources they need (did you know they are limited on copies they can make for class? They also pay for their supplies. They wear too many hats, and need more resources in the classroom.
- Transparent curriculum, along with parent involvement create a team effort to work together to help our children reach their potential. If we have a transparent curriculum, the teachers and parents can have a clear understanding of what our children need, and what is expected. WCPSS needs to focus on our learning loss recovery, and get back to basics; remove the politics in the classroom, and focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic.
- Fiscal responsibility is imperative. We budget for million of dollars on textbooks, but our children do not have textbooks. While our superintendent is the highest paid in the nation, our teachers sit at the low end of the national pay. We have a large amount of administrators making six figures, and programs that are unclear if they have resulted in any student improvement. We need to go through the budget line by line, and remove ineffective items. There are questions that need to be answered, and if hands are tied work more closely with legislators or the source that ties them.
School safety is vital. If students, staff and teachers do not feel safe in school, then WCPSS will not have an effective learning environment. This extends to bullying, and the mental health crisis we have right now. Schools need proper resources, such as, SRO’s in all schools (currently elementary schools do not have SRO’s), and more effective lockdown drills (WCPSS only has one per year, regardless if missing points in the drill), every SRO should have an entry key as part of their uniform (currently supervisors hold the keys, and limited supply, and in case of an emergency they may not be able to assist another school, or might experience a delay or covering a sick fellow SRO). Our school should also have very clear, and transparent policies. Our bullying policy states “zero tolerance,” but what does that mean? Bullying is increasing, consequences are vague, left to school discretions, and inconsistent. This is not just students, teachers have been intimidated, and harmed. Clear discipline policies should be consistent through the county, with accountability, and more resources available. Our budget needs to allow for more mental health resources, especially at this time. WCPSS received $400 million in Covid Relief Funds. Perhaps we put those unspent funds to good use, especially with the high amount of teen depression, and bullying we are enduring right now.
Local school board should represent their community visions and values through policies, curriculum, and goals, to meet our students educational needs. Their main objectives should be the best outcome for our students. WCPSS is boasting a 90% graduation rate, however, our Math1 high school math students have 79% not-proficient scores. Our 3rd grade reading is 50% not-proficient. Our students are not failing, we are failing them, by not addressing such a learning loss, and advancing them to the next level, without the skills they need, and without the fundamental building blocks. Our students and teachers are being ignored. As a school board member I will work hard to create solid policies and programs that best support our students, and teachers. I will advocate to remove ineffective spending, failing curriculum, to get back to basics, remove politics out of the classroom, remediate our current learning loss, and provide our teachers with the resources they need to have a successful classroom.
Parents, teachers, staff and community members are my constituents.
Wake County boasts a 90% graduation rate, however we have scores of 79% not-proficient in Math1 (HS Math), 50% not-proficient in 3rd grade Reading, which is a pivotal point where children progress from learning how to read, to reading to learn. They are missing fundamentals building blocks, yet our students are passed through to the next level without the full comprehension, and retention needed to advance. By passing them on without the proper remediation, we are failing our students. As the grades progress the struggles increase, causing strains for our students, and teachers. We need to provide more tutoring resources, and aides to assist the teachers in class, and close those gaps. Mental health counselors can also help with these struggles. We are burning out our students, and our teachers. Let's get the politics out of the classroom, let's get back to basics, and focus on reading, writing and arithmetics.
WCPSS receives $2.1 billion dollars for education. We also received $400 million in Covid Relief Funds, which has not all been applied towards all the struggles we had from the pandemic, and extended school closures. We budget for millions in textbooks, yet our students do not have textbooks. We have extended programs that have utilized millions in our budget, yet it is not clear if they have any improvement on academic success. For schools to be properly funded we should start first with what, and how, our funds are being allocated, and if those funds have been effective toward our goals. Then, we should break down which items need to be reevaluated and removed, where we need more resources, like higher teacher salaries, resources, tutoring, mental health counselors and programs. Better checks and balance would be very beneficial to WCPSS's needs. WCPSS can also work close with legislation to make adjustments where it is needed. Constantly spending more money, does not ensure better results. Making sure we are spending effectively is a better option, and then work from there to expand on what we need.
If we do not feel safe in our classrooms we cannot have a good learning environment. Please see my full response above for more details on school safety.
We budget millions of dollars for textbooks. I am hearing complaints from parents, students and teachers across the board that there is too much dependency on the Chromebook's, and that they all would like to see more books, and paper back in the classrooms. Although technology can be very helpful, I believe we need to have a better balance. Special Education students also tend to struggle more with too much screen time, and would benefit from less computer lessons, and more engagement in class.
Parent involvement can be a key component in the success of their child. The teachers I have spoken with across our district want parents to be more involved. They need the help, especially now, and can really make a difference for that child, both in and out of the classroom. Parents have expressed the lack of textbooks also make it harder to work side by side with a struggling student, and most times it is just unclear what they need to do. If teachers work with students in class, and parents work from the back end with transparency, and good communication, they can close gaps, and provide for that team environment. After all, we should all have the same goal, helping our students reach their potential. This will require input from all parties.
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
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate North Carolina State Senate District 18 |
Personal |
Footnotes
Current members of the North Carolina State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Michael Lee
Minority Leader:Sydney Batch
Senators
District 1
Robert Hanig (R)
District 2
Norman Sanderson (R)
District 3
Bob Brinson (R)
District 4
Eldon Newton (R)
District 5
Kandie Smith (D)
District 6
Michael Lazzara (R)
District 7
Michael Lee (R)
District 8
William Rabon (R)
District 9
Brent Jackson (R)
District 10
Benton Sawrey (R)
District 11
Lisa Barnes (R)
District 12
Jim Burgin (R)
District 13
Lisa Grafstein (D)
District 14
Dan Blue (D)
District 15
Jay Chaudhuri (D)
District 16
Gale Adcock (D)
District 17
Sydney Batch (D)
District 18
Terence Everitt (D)
District 19
Val Applewhite (D)
District 20
Natalie Murdock (D)
District 21
Tom McInnis (R)
District 22
Sophia Chitlik (D)
District 23
Graig Meyer (D)
District 24
Danny Britt (R)
District 25
Amy Galey (R)
District 26
Phil Berger (R)
District 27
Michael Garrett (D)
District 28
Gladys Robinson (D)
District 29
Dave Craven (R)
District 30
Steven Jarvis (R)
District 31
Dana Jones (R)
District 32
Paul Lowe (D)
District 33
Carl Ford (R)
District 34
Chris Measmer (R)
District 35
Todd Johnson (R)
District 36
Eddie Settle (R)
District 37
Vickie Sawyer (R)
District 38
Mujtaba Mohammed (D)
District 39
District 40
Joyce Waddell (D)
District 41
Caleb Theodros (D)
District 42
Woodson Bradley (D)
District 43
Brad Overcash (R)
District 44
Ted Alexander (R)
District 45
Mark Hollo (R)
District 46
Warren Daniel (R)
District 47
Ralph Hise (R)
District 48
Timothy Moffitt (R)
District 49
Julie Mayfield (D)
District 50
Kevin Corbin (R)
Republican Party (30)
Democratic Party (20)
