Under the Dome podcast: Freshman Sen. Woodson Bradley on gun debate, being on ‘team normal’
A freshman state senator from Mecklenburg County won a close, and closely watched, race last year in a swing district.
Now Democratic Sen. Woodson Bradley is making a name for herself in the General Assembly, including during a passionate debate over concealed carry gun permits on the Senate floor. Bradley considers herself perhaps the most moderate Democrat in the Senate.
Welcome to your Under the Dome newsletter, which previews our latest podcast that posted this morning. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief and host of our Under the Dome podcast, which posts every Tuesday.
We recorded this episode in Bradley’s office in the Legislative Office Building, where just outside the office door, two Dalmatian statues are posted up in the hallway when she’s in town.
We talk about the reason for the statues — spoiler, she has a pet Dalmatian — and why and how she won her Senate race.
Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham’s district overlaps with Bradley’s, which was newly drawn for the 2024 elections.
Bradley also shares the advice given to her by two former state senators from her area — Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt and Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
It was Hunt and Jackson who urged her to run, and told her a bit about what to expect once she arrived in the Senate.
“They said, you’re going to see different personalities of people in committee, versus people on the floor. People in their offices will be different than what you see in debate, and you just need to learn how to navigate around that. You need to be yourself, you need to not take things personally, and you need to just stay true to the long term goal,” Bradley said.
“And I thought, that’s kind of how I’ve mapped out my life. I’ve had to maneuver and scrap and advocate and fight for things, fight for my kids. So I felt that I was up to the task, and here we are. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve got a lot more to learn. But getting through the initial season of bill drafting, that was like being baptized in hot grease, because everybody was scrambling to fight for their ideas,” she said.
Bradley, who is originally from Martinsville, Virginia, moved to Charlotte in 2002 for a job selling real estate, so we also touch on what growth and development is like in the Charlotte area, too.
She is a domestic violence survivor, which she has talked about publicly as an advocate, as well as during the Senate debate over concealed carry permits.
Bradley said she lets people known she’s “not a firebrand” and said she’s probably the most moderate member of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
“I’m proud of that. I think it’s time for people to be independent thinkers and, you know, represent Team Normal in such a polarized world,” Bradley said.
There’s much more to our conversation you’ll hear when you listen to the full podcast. Be sure to stay tuned to the end for some Legislative Cafeteria talk, who calls her “Sneakers” and our picks for Headliner of the Week: Bradley talks about her bill on opting-in for school health screenings, and I talk about the departure of now-former Sen. Paul Newton.
Listen to the Under the Dome podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you are a lawmaker or work in state government, politics or policy and are interested in being a podcast guest or have topic recommendations, email me at dvaughan@newsobserver.com.
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