Politics

Lisa Baldwin announces NC Senate campaign

By Bill Moss, Published: January 6, 2016

Fiscal and social conservative, Lisa Carpenter Baldwin, has announced that she will run for the Senate District 48 seat previously held by Tom Apodaca.

Baldwin served four years as a Buncombe County school board member in the 11th largest school district in NC. Her school board successes earned recognition from conservative research institute, The John Locke Foundation, from whom she received the 2012 James K. Polk Leadership in Public Service Award. That year, she also received the UNCG Alumni Pacesetter Award. Her government reform efforts have been publicized by Fox News, The Carolina Journal, Daily Haymaker, Carolina Public Press and Carolina Plotthound.

Lisa Baldwin is a North Carolina native, graduating as Bessemer City High School Valedictorian in 1983, summa cum laude graduate of UNCG in 1987 and three years later earning a master's degree in Economics from the University of Maryland where she was a graduate teaching assistant and Henry Weil Fellow. During her college tenure, Baldwin interned with the N.C. School of Government, the N.C. Attorney General's Office, the Better Business Bureau, Burlington Industries and the Consumer Energy Council of America..

After graduation, Baldwin worked as an economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Currently, she blogs at NC Students First and writes a conservative government watchdog column for The Tribune Papers. She and her husband of 27 years, Richard, reside in Fletcher, NC with their son, a high school junior. Their oldest son, Taylor, is pursuing a nuclear engineering master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he also works as a researcher. Son, Andrew, and daughter, Madison, are respectively studying materials engineering and chemical engineering at N.C. State University. All were A.C. Reynolds High valedictorians.

“More than 50% of the state budget is spent on education which makes my school board experience invaluable,” Baldwin said. “I support free market education reform efforts and expansion of school choice. State Education Savings Accounts will allow the money to follow the child, increasing competition among public and private schools which will result in improved education outcomes for students.”

As a state Senator, Baldwin wants to see Common Core replaced with academically rigorous standards, putting NC on the map for a world class education system.

Baldwin will call for more transparency and accountability from government agencies. Baldwin said, “Each agency should build their budget from the ground up, known as zero-based budgeting. Only core government services should be funded with valuable taxpayer dollars.”

As a strict Constitutionalist, Baldwin believes all decisions must be viewed through the lens of the state constitution, North Carolina's governing document, and the U.S. Constitution.

Along with fiscal responsibility, Baldwin supports traditional Biblical values, marriage between one man and one woman, and is pro-life.

Baldwin has always been an active volunteer, serving as a member of the NC GOP Executive Committee and Vice-President of the Buncombe County Republican Women's Club. She belongs to MENSA and is on the Emmanuel Lutheran School Board and N.C. School of Science and Math Strategic Planning Action Team.