Wake school board member, a Trump supporter, says she will run for NC Senate in 2026
Wake County school board member Cheryl Caulfield announced Friday that she will run for a seat in the North Carolina Senate.
Caulfield, a Republican, said she’ll seek the District 18 Senate seat that includes part of Wake and all of Granville County. Republicans control the Senate, but Wake County is represented entirely by Democrats in the chamber.
In her announcement, Caulfield talked about promoting a conservative agenda that includes improving school safety, securing the border and lowering taxes.
“I am running for Senate to bring meaningful change in our education system by improving academic performance, providing stronger support for our teachers, and raising the standards for school safety,” Caulfield said in a news release. “There is no other profession where violence in the workplace is accepted, and schools should be no different.
“Being on the school board has given me unique insight into why things aren’t getting accomplished in some school districts, and it’s going to take legislative solutions to make education more classroom focused.”
The District 18 seat is now held by Sen. Terence Everitt, a Democrat who was elected in 2024. Before then, he had served in the state House since being elected in 2018.
Everitt defeated Republican Ashlee Adams by just 128 votes in November. Everitt’s win wasn’t certified by the State Board of Elections until January.
Everitt has not publicly announced if he’ll run for reelection. He did not immediately return email and voicemail messages Friday from The News & Observer.
Conservative school board voice
Caulfield was elected in 2022 to the District 1 school board seat that includes Wake Forest, much of eastern Wake and part of North Raleigh. Wake is North Carolina’s largest school district.
In her campaign announcement, Caulfield talked about how she worked with county leaders to keep vape shops away from schools. She also cited being part of a “statewide conservative school board coalition” that lobbies for issues such as raising teacher pay.
Caulfield has spoken at events for groups such as the N.C. Values Coalition to urge schools to remove books she says are too sexually explicit for students. She’s publicly clashed with the Democratic majority on the Wake school board on issues such as her support for President Donald Trump’s call to eliminate “discriminatory gender ideology” in schools.
If elected to the General Assembly, Caulfield said she’d work “to secure our borders to combat human trafficking and to stop the fentanyl crisis.”
Caulfield also said she’s committed to lowering tax burdens on businesses and supports state Rep. Erin Paré’s bill to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and bonus pay. Paré is one of two Republicans representing Wake in the House.
Some Wake school board members have been successful in winning higher office. Last year, Monika Johnson-Hostler resigned from the school board after being elected to the state House.
The candidate filing period opens Dec. 1. If Caulfield wins the March 2026 GOP primary, she’d go on to the fall general election.
Caulfield said she plans to serve the remainder of her four-year term on the school board, which expires December 2026.
