Shelane Etchison

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Shelane Etchison

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Central Florida

Graduate

Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Shelane Etchison (independent) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 9th Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Etchison completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Shelane Etchison served in the U.S. Army. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida and graduate degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School.

Elections

2024

See also: North Carolina's 9th Congressional District election, 2024

North Carolina's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)

North Carolina's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 9

Incumbent Richard Hudson defeated Nigel Bristow and Shelane Etchison in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 9 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Hudson (R)	56.3	210,042
		Nigel Bristow (D)	37.8	140,852
		Shelane Etchison (Independent)	5.9	22,183

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 373,077
= 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. Nigel Bristow advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 9.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 9

Incumbent Richard Hudson defeated Troy Tarazon in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 9 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Hudson	83.3	56,543
		Troy Tarazon	16.7	11,307

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 67,850
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Etchison in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Shelane Etchison completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Etchison'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 grew up in central Florida going to public school and university. The attacks on 9/11 spurred me to join Army after college. I served for over a decade, deploying to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria -- leading soldiers and pioneering roles for women in Special Operations.

My time in the military taught me the true meaning of leadership and gave me a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation of the ideals of this country.

Unfortunately, too many politicians put partisan politics above the needs of country and sow divisions. This is not real leadership, and why I am running for Congress to be a fresh voice for the people of NC-09.

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?

• The status quo in Congress is not working for the American people. Our debt, our border, our cost of living... both parties are failing us. Members of Congress are more polarized than ever leading to gridlock and lack of results. It's time we start electing independent candidates who will work collaboratively to get things done for the American people.
• Unaffiliated or independent voters make up the majority of voters in North Carolina and the US. We are proud to be making history as the first ever unaffiliated Congressional candidate in the state of North Carolina, and finally give voters an independent option on their ballot.
• Our campaign is about brining power and voice back to the people. I am not a career politician beholden or bought by a political party or special interest groups. We believe in brining common-sense, honest, and authentic representation for the people by listening to them and leaving the political divisiveness behind.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

We have to start making our elections process more fair and representative. I am passionate about ending gerrymandering and having fair and competitive maps. Rigging the maps only make politicians lazy and comfortable. Fair maps incentivize them to work on your behalf and legitimately earn your vote.

Same goes for open primaries and rank choice voting. Instating these electoral changes will make sure politicians are appealing to a wider segment of the electorate, not just those on the extreme which our current system promotes.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

It's simple, elected officials are responsible to two things: the U.S. Constitution in which they swear an oath to support and defend; and the constituents to whom they are elected to represent.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I worked on a horse ranch throughout my teenage years. Mucking stalls, breaking horses, tossing hay bales, and loving every minute of it.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

We have many challenges facing our nation from growing debt, immigration, youth mental health, emboldened foreign adversaries, and rising everyday costs like housing, healthcare, and childcare. However, the greatest issue we're facing is the partisan divide. Because without first addressing the hyper-partisanship and gridlock, none of these issues will get resolved.

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 website

Etchison’s campaign website stated the following:

“	ANTI-CORRUPTION Right now, most regular Americans have very little influence on the laws Congress passes. Research repeatedly shows that there's almost no connection between what the public wants and what Congress actually does. Instead, our elected officials prioritize the interests of elites, businesses, and those who can afford powerful lobbyists, creating a system of legalized bribery. Our government is broken, and we need to take action to fix it. Shelane is committed to changing this. She supports getting big money out of politics by overturning Citizens United, a law that allows unlimited corporate spending in elections, and ending the revolving door of politicians taking high-paying lobbyist jobs, which grants them undue influence over government agencies. She also aims to stop members of Congress from using insider information to make profitable stock trades. Finally, Shelane supports open primaries to increase voter participation and ensure politicians are accountable to a wider range of people. INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES Shelane believes her most crucial responsibility as a Congresswoman is protecting her constituents’ individual rights and liberties – for all to pursue a life of dignity without unnecessary government interference. Shelane supports legislation protecting a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices, upholding 2nd Amendment rights, protecting our civil liberties, and ensuring all people, regardless of religious, racial, or sexual orientation, are protected to pursue a life free of discrimination. ECONOMY Shelane supports a strong economy for families and future generations. Everyday Americans deserve an economy that works for them. Addressing rising costs of housing, childcare, healthcare, and basic necessities is critical to ensuring the financial security of American families. Both parties are complicit in our soaring national debt, threatening our collective and future prosperity. Shelane prioritizes implementing fiscal policies for long-term economic stability without burdening future generations with excessive debt. She advocates for a balanced national budget, reduced government waste, and responsible spending of taxpayer dollars. DEMOCRACY American Democracy is in decline. Partisan polarization, special-interest influence, and election interference erode trust and fairness in our Democracy. Shelane is committed to restoring faith in our institutions by fostering transparency, protecting our voting rights, combating partisan gerrymandering, and holding our officials accountable for their words and actions. NATIONAL SECURITY One of Congress’ foremost responsibilities is ensuring strong national security domestically and abroad. Politics should never get in the way of protecting our sovereign territory and securing our borders. Shelane supports securing our borders and implementing sensible immigration reform that recognizes immigrants’ critical importance in our economy and communities. Globally, American leadership and strong international partnerships are vital for conflict mitigation and ensuring safety and prosperity for generations to come. Shelane believes in an integrated, responsible use of diplomatic, intelligence, and military capabilities to address our global national security challenges. VETERANS As a veteran who served at Fort Bragg and relies on the VA Healthcare system, Shelane has firsthand experience of the hurdles veterans continue to face in receiving quality healthcare. Access to benefits and health care should be timely and intuitive, not bogged down in bureaucratic confusion. Tragically, veteran suicide remains disproportionately high at 1.5x greater than the general population – this is unacceptable, and Shelane is committed to advocating tirelessly in Congress for veterans’ mental well-being from service to civilian life. SOCIETAL WELLNESS Our society is hurting. Social connectedness to families, communities, spirituality, and nature is declining while addiction, isolation, and mental health crises – especially among young people – are on the rise. Current political divisions and media manipulation contribute to this problem. Shelane believes it’s a national imperative to strengthen our societal well-being by promoting civility, lifelong learning and skills building, holistic health approaches, and incentivized national service.	”
—Shelane Etchison’s campaign website (2024)

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.

---

Shelane Etchison campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House North Carolina District 9	Lost general	$358,874	$353,487
Grand total			$358,874	$353,487
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

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

U.S. House North Carolina District 9

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Personal

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Footnotes

[show]

North Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ted Budd (R)

Thom Tillis (R)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Davis (D)

District 2

Deborah Ross (D)

District 3

Gregory Murphy (R)

District 4

Valerie Foushee (D)

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R)

District 6

Addison McDowell (R)

District 7

David Rouzer (R)

District 8

Mark Harris (R)

District 9

Richard Hudson (R)

District 10

Pat Harrigan (R)

District 11

Chuck Edwards (R)

District 12

Alma Adams (D)

District 13

Brad Knott (R)

District 14

Timothy Moore (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (4)