Army veteran Shelane Etchison will appear on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate for North Carolina’s ninth congressional district later this year. She is likely the first candidate to do so in the district’s history since North Carolina adopted the secret ballot.
According to the North Carolina Board of Elections, Shelane Etchison, a former Army officer and Harvard graduate, successfully collected enough verified signatures to qualify for the ballot. Running as an unaffiliated candidate, she was required to gather signatures from 1.5% of the district’s total registered voters as of January 1, 2024. Etchison submitted 12,781 signatures, of which 7,946 were valid, exceeding the minimum of 7,460 needed to qualify.
As outlined on her campaign site, Etchison’s platform includes positions such as upholding the Second Amendment, supporting legislation to protect reproductive access, and opposing discrimination based on factors such as religious, racial, or sexual identity. Additionally, she advocates for strong national security, improving access to resources for military veterans, and incentivizing national service. Her entire platform is available on her website.
One of the more notable aspects of Etchison’s campaign is the claim from local media that she is the first unaffiliated candidate to appear on the ballot in North Carolina’s ninth congressional district. Independent Political Report has reviewed election records dating back one hundred years, and while third party candidates from the Libertarian, Reform, Natural Law, and Green parties have run in the past, no other unaffiliated or independent candidate has appeared on the general election ballot in the district since the state adopted the secret ballot in 1929.
There are mentions of candidates before that transition who were not associated with political parties. However, it’s important to note that at that time, ballots were still privately produced by political parties. Therefore, claims asserting that Etchison is the first unaffiliated candidate to appear on the ballot in the district are likely valid when viewed from a contemporary perspective.
Hutchison will now compete against incumbent Republican Representative Richard Hudson and Democratic challenger Nigel Bristow in November.
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