Foushee To Seek NC Sen. District 23 Appointment

Pictured: Foushee with family

CHAPEL HILL – State Representative Valerie Foushee (Dem.) will seek appointment to N.C. Senate District 23, according to a statement released Wednesday.

To read about the appointment process, click here.

The seat, which represents Orange and Chatham Counties, was formerly held by Senator Ellie Kinnaird (Dem.), who resigned the post Monday due what she said was frustration over actions taken by the Republican-controlled legislature.

Foushee served on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board and the Orange County Board of Commissioners, presiding as chair of both groups during her tenure. She also was a member of the Chapel Hill Police Department for 21 years.

“I’m pursuing this seat because Orange County is my home and I want to be able to represent the entire county, as well as Chatham, in the legislature,” Foushee said in a release. “I understand the tensions between the rural and urban areas and as a former representative of both, I am uniquely qualified to represent Senate District 23.”

Foushee was elected to the Board of Education for the Chapel Hill– Carrboro City Schools in 1997, and re-elected to a second term in 2001. She served as Chair from 2001-2003. In November 2004, Valerie was one of eight School Board members selected to the All State School Board by the North Carolina School Boards Association.

In November of 2004, she became the first African-American female elected to the Orange County Board of Commissioners. She was re-elected in November of 2008 and served as Chair from 2008 – 2010. In 2012 she successfully ran for State House in District 50, representing Orange and Durham counties in the legislature.

According to campaign manger, Evan Degnan, many local elected officials from Orange County and Chatham Counties have announced their public support of Foushee: State House Representative Deb McManus; members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board: James Barrett, Jamezetta Bedford, Mia Burroughs, Michelle Brownstein, Gregory McElveen, Mike Kelly, and Annetta Streater; Orange County Commissioners Earl McKee, and Bernadette Pelissier; Chapel Hill Town Councilman Lee Storrow; and Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Michelle Johnson.

Foushee is a life-long resident of Chapel Hill and a 1974 graduate of Chapel Hill High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and African and Afro-American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Along with husband Stan Foushee, retired Fire Marshal for the Town of Carrboro and a Deacon at First Baptist Church, the couple have two sons, Stanley II and Terrence.

Foushee To Seek NC Sen. District 23 Appointment

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