Chris Heagarty

Chris Heagarty

Nonpartisan

Wake County Public School System, District 7

Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

7

Predecessor

Kathy Hartenstine

Prior offices

North Carolina House of Representatives District 41

Successor: Thomas Murry

Predecessor: Ty Harrell

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Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Appointed

December 11, 2018

Education

Bachelor's

NC State University, 1992

Law

North Carolina Central University School of Law, 2010

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Chris Heagarty is a member of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, representing District 7. He assumed office in 2018. His current term ends in 2026.

Heagarty ran for re-election to the Wake County Public School System to represent District 7 in North Carolina. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Heagarty completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Heagarty was a Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 41 from 2009 to 2011.

Biography

Chris Heagarty earned a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University in 1992 and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2010.

Elections

2022

See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Wake County Public School System, District 7

Incumbent Chris Heagarty defeated Jacob Arthur and Katie Long in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 7 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Heagarty (Nonpartisan)	52.4	22,746
		Jacob Arthur (Nonpartisan)	25.9	11,227
		Katie Long (Nonpartisan)	21.2	9,183
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	217

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 43,373
= 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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Endorsements

To view Heagarty's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2020

See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Wake County Public School System, District 7

Incumbent Chris Heagarty defeated Rachel Mills in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 7 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Heagarty (Nonpartisan)	51.1	30,462
	Submit photo	Rachel Mills (Nonpartisan)	48.0	28,596
		Other/Write-in votes	0.8	506

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,564
= 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.

2010

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2010

Heagarty was defeated by Republican Thomas Murry in the November 2, 2010, general election.

North Carolina House of Representatives, General Election Results, District 41 (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Thomas Murry (R)		19,736	53.65%
Chris Heagarty (D)		17,052	46.35%

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am the Vice Chair of the Wake County School Board. I’ve served four years and have a solid record of increasing pay for teachers and staff, building new schools in our area, and keeping kids safe and healthy.

I am running to continue our work accelerating academic recovery from time lost to the pandemic, recruiting and retaining great teachers, and protecting all children from intolerance and harassment.

I am a parent of Wake County Public School students and have helped parents navigate the school system bureaucracy to solve local problems. I work collaboratively with the community, including our county commissioners, law enforcement, pediatricians and local health officials and others to ensure the best environment for our school children. I have the experience, the temperament, and the common sense approach necessary to collaborate and work productively with others to be effective in keeping Wake County Public Schools the best in the state and one of the top systems in the nation.I

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I have kept my campaign promises to keep our students safe and healthy, to build new schools to address growth and over crowding in our area, and to support our teachers and staff through better pay.
• In my next term I will continue to work toward academic recovery from classroom time lost during the pandemic as we launch a district wide intensive tutoring program to build fundamental literacy skills for students impacted the most by remote learning, as well as continuing to improve teacher and staff pay to retain and recruit the best teachers for our students, and will continue to stand up to intolerance and bullying that can make kids feel excluded and unwelcome in school
• I have the knowledge, the experience, and the temperament needed to collaborate with state and local officials and to advocate for parents and students to address our school needs and keep Wake County schools the best in our state.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Since joining the Board of Education I have been passionate about improving mental health services for students, to ensure that all children feel safe and supported and are in the best mindset to learn and grow in school. This advocacy has led to the adoption of our district's first mental health policy for student and increased hiring of school counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, and social workers. It has also led to more intentional suicide prevention outreach and awareness and improvements to our anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies. Ensuring that our students' physical, mental, and social well being is secure is one of my top concerns.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

As the public's elected representative for the governance of our educational system, school board members need to hold educational leaders accountable to the public will. However, in a diverse community with diverse opinions, not everyone can have their view prevail all of the time, and school board members must remember that they represent the entire community and not just the loudest voices. Board members must always defend the principle that our public schools belong to everyone and as a board member it is incredibly important to make sure that all students and staff are welcome, included, and given the tools they need to succeed and thrive.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

I have worked every year to increase the number of school counselors, social workers, nurses, and psychologists in our schools, but we need more state funding to get anywhere close to the recommended ratio of staff to students in our schools. I worked to adopt a new student mental health policy that helps identify potential mental health needs and provide families with the resources needed to assist them.

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

Chris Heagarty did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

State legislative tenure

Committee assignments

• Appropriations Committee, North Carolina House
• Commerce, Small Business, and Entrepreneurship Committee, North Carolina House
• Judiciary I Committee, North Carolina House
• Science and Technology Committee, North Carolina House
• State Government/State Personnel Committee, North Carolina House
• Transportation Committee, North Carolina House

• Subcommittee on Transportation

See also

2022 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

Wake County Public School System, District 7

Website

Facebook

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Kathy Hartenstine	Wake County Public School System, District 7 2018-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by Ty Harrell (D)	North Carolina House of Representatives District 41 2009-2011	Succeeded by Thomas Murry (R)