Steve Luking
Steve Luking (Democratic Party) is running for election to the North Carolina State Senate to represent District 26. The Democratic primary for this office on March 3, 2026, was canceled.
Biography
Steve Luking was born in Dayton, Ohio. He earned a bachelor's degree from Wright State University in 1980 and an M.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1984. He also graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1987. His career experience includes working as a physician. Luking co-founded Reidsville Family Medicine in 1993. He served as chief of staff and chairperson of the hospital board at Annie Penn Hospital. He became a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 1984.[1]
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 26
Steve Luking (D) is running in the general election for North Carolina State Senate District 26 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Steve Luking (D) | |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary
The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled. Steve Luking (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Senate District 26 without appearing on the ballot.
Republican primary
Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 26
Incumbent Phil Berger (R) and Sam Page (R) are running in the Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 26 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Phil Berger | |
 | Sam Page | |
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| = 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
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2024
See also: North Carolina State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for North Carolina State Senate District 26
Incumbent Phil Berger defeated Steve Luking and Alvin Robinson in the general election for North Carolina State Senate District 26 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Phil Berger (R) | 54.1 | 67,081 |
| Steve Luking (D) | 41.1 | 51,007 | |
 | Alvin Robinson (Constitution Party) | 4.8 | 6,007 | |
| Total votes: 124,095 | |||
| = 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. Steve Luking advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Senate District 26.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Phil Berger advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 26.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Luking in this election.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2024
Steve Luking completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Luking's responses.
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In Roxboro, I met and married Sara, now a retired public school teacher. We raised two children in Reidsville, where they attended public schools. Melinda, who currently is a schoolteacher in Asheville, recently had our first grandchild. Forrest owns a successful business as a charter fisherman out of Homer, Alaska. I never imagined entering politics, but circumstances over the past decade have really left me no choice. For over a decade I fought hard against my opponent, Phil Berger, for his unforgivable stance of rejection of Medicaid expansion to my working poor patients (and half a million others, most of whom were working women). Berger and other legislators finally came to their senses, but not before thousands of North Carolinians died prematurely, billions of dollars of North Carolina tax revenue were forfeited elsewhere, and we lost four times as many rural hospitals to closure than the states who expanded access early. I have always been a huge supporter of public education, and now I see the very same harmful extreme ideology damaging the quality and accessibility of public education for our school kids. Phil Berger deserves a staunch opponent, and that's me.
- A quality public education is a fundamental constitutional right and a necessity for our school children across the state. Our state legislature is intentionally failing to provide this. From 2002 to 2020, only one state in the nation saw an actual decline in inflation adjusted dollars spent per public student--North Carolina. In 2023, we were 50th in the nation in public school investment as a fraction of our GDP! State budgets are indeed a statement of moral priorities, and we are de-prioritizing our school kids. My opponent clearly would prefer to cut corporate taxes and give private school vouchers and tax breaks to high income citizens rather than to adequately fund public schools and pay teachers a living wage. We must fight this.
- The abject failure of our legislature to extend Medicaid coverage to over half a million North Carolinians for over a decade, while damaging the health infrastructure of our rural and urban areas, demonstrates we need a change--and fast. We need more science-based, compassionate medical professionals who can represent the needs of the average citizen, and advocate for a more equitable and balanced approach to healthcare delivery. I do not trust the current legislature to objectively and scientifically make good decisions on behalf of women, or to successfully advocate for common sense issues like relief of medical debt, or to fight the insurance companies who provide outsized donations to our legislators each election cycle.
- We need to restore legislative integrity. To me, integrity in governance means making good decisions on behalf of and in consultation with your constituents. And making certain those decisions are free of unethical influence--where matters are decided upon merits alone and what it means to the citizens of your district. My opponent has been too swayed by partisan political ideology and campaign contributions, and consistently is making bad decisions which harm middle class and rural North Carolinians (like trying to ram through a casino locally while delaying Medicaid expansion) and is willing to gerrymander his district further when he takes a stance against the wishes of a local community (like last years' Summerfield debacle).
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.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 14, 2024
