Jessica Holmes

Jessica Holmes (Democratic Party) was the North Carolina State Auditor. She assumed office on December 16, 2023. She left office on January 1, 2025.

Holmes (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for North Carolina State Auditor. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Jessica Holmes earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from the UNC School of Law. Her career experience includes working as an attorney and as deputy industrial commissioner in North Carolina. Holmes was elected to two terms on the Wake County Commissioners, where she served as chair. Holmes became a board member and was chair of the North Carolina Foundation for Public School Children.^[1]

2024 battleground election

See also: North Carolina Auditor election, 2024

Ballotpedia identified the Nov. 5, 2024, election for North Carolina Auditor as a battleground race. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.

Dave Boliek (R) defeated incumbent Jessica Holmes (D), and Bob Drach (L) in the general election for North Carolina Auditor on November 5, 2024.^[2]^[3]

The North Carolina auditor is the head of the Office of the State Auditor and a member of the Council of State. The auditor's office examines all facets of state government for the misuse of tax dollars through a variety of means including financial statement audits, performance audits, investigative reports, and information technology audits. The office also conducts special studies as requested by the general assembly.

Jessica Holmes assumed office in 2023 after Gov. Roy Cooper (D) appointed her to replace Beth Wood (D) following Wood's resignation. This meant that while Holmes was an incumbent, 2024 was the first year she was running for auditor. Democrats had controlled the office of North Carolina Auditor since 2009 following Beth Wood's (D) 2008 general election victory over then-incumbent Leslie Merritt (R). At the time of the election, Republicans controlled both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly and Democrats had a Democratic triplex, meaning Democrats controlled the offices of governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.

Holmes received a bachelor's degree and J.D. from the University of North Carolina.^[4] Holmes worked as an attorney for the North Carolina Association of Educators and as a lecturer at North Carolina State University and was deputy commissioner for the North Carolina Industrial Commission from 2021-2023.^[5] Holmes' campaign website said she would continue to focus on holding government agencies accountable, leading with integrity, and ensuring government transparency through the auditing process.^[6]

Dave Boliek received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina and a master's degree and J.D. from Campbell University. Boliek was a field director for the Healthcare Leadership Council, assistant district attorney for North Carolina, and attorney for Williford, Crenshaw, Boliek and Frangakis, LLP. Boliek served on the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees since 2019.^[7] Boliek completed Ballotpedia's candidate connection survey. In it, he said he believed he had organizational leadership experience that would benefit him as auditor and that he would implement conservative policies.

Bob Drach received a bachelor's degree from William & Mary and a master's degree from Stanford University. Drach worked as a science teacher, senior consultant and manager at Deloitte, president of HMF Express, and chief information officer at Senneca Holdings.^[8] Drach completed Ballotpedia's candidate connection survey. In it, he said, "I am the independent, qualified, and scrupulous choice for North Carolina State Auditor. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican and can therefore best protect the interests of all North Carolina citizens. As the State Auditor, I will focus on retaining the excellent audit staff, recruiting additional talent, continuing key investigations, and keeping technology current."

Elections

2024

General election

General election for North Carolina State Auditor

Dave Boliek defeated incumbent Jessica Holmes and Bob Drach in the general election for North Carolina State Auditor on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Dave Boliek (R)	49.4	2,729,780
	Jessica Holmes (D)	47.6	2,633,607
	Bob Drach (L)	3.0	167,701

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,531,088
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for North Carolina State Auditor

Dave Boliek defeated Jack Clark in the Republican primary runoff for North Carolina State Auditor on May 14, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Dave Boliek	53.2	67,173
	Jack Clark	46.8	59,130

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 126,303
= 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 election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jessica Holmes advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Auditor.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Luis Toledo (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Carolina State Auditor

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for North Carolina State Auditor on March 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jack Clark	23.2	198,793
✔	Dave Boliek	22.1	189,071
	Charles Dingee	18.6	159,351
	Jeff Tarte	15.0	127,981
	Anthony Wayne Street	11.2	95,863
	Jim Kee	9.9	84,302

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 855,361
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

James Upchurch (R)

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Bob Drach advanced from the Libertarian primary for North Carolina State Auditor.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Holmes in this election.