RALEIGH / GREENSBORO — The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus and the Guilford County Democratic Party withdrew support for Shelly Headen, the Democratic nominee challenging Republican state Rep. John Blust in House District 62, after inflammatory social media posts — including calls for violence against Trump supporters and an “attack on US soil” in conservative states — resurfaced this week, according to reporting by The Assembly, WFDD, and WRAL.

Headen, an accountant from Oak Ridge, told The Assembly she recalls writing several anti-Trump posts but not the exact language. She said she paid $30,000 for a consulting firm to scrub her social accounts for problems and that she will keep running. Mail ballots have already gone out; candidates had until Aug. 20 to leave the ballot, so Democrats cannot replace her name for November.

The posts that blew up the nomination

On Thursday, House Republicans publicly flagged a Facebook comment attributed to Headen: “I think our only hope is an attack on US soil… preferably Alabama, Louisiana… where the stupid people live.” Headen told The Assembly she did not remember writing it or whether it was real; Bryan Anderson reported the comment was still public on Facebook Thursday afternoon.

After then–Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, a post on X under an account linked earlier this year by the House Democratic Caucus read: “I’m so excited! Ready for the MAGAs to die off!!” Headen denied having an X account when asked by The Assembly.

On LinkedIn, she wrote that the damage Trump “has done is getting close to surpassing Hilter [sic]” and that “his MAGA cult may be more destructive and evil than the Nazis.” In an anti-Trump Facebook group, responding to a question about why some people “can’t see what is going on,” she replied: “Maybe they need to experience sexual assault so they can experience what Trump’s victims feel.” On a post praising Luigi Mangione — who pleaded guilty to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — she commented: “I think America is beyond peaceful protest!”

WRAL noted it could not independently confirm authorship of every post, but said the House Democratic Caucus has assigned responsibility for them to Headen, and she has acknowledged past anti-MAGA and anti-Trump posting.

Democrats walk away; Headen stays on the ballot

“Shelly Headen’s posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates,” Sam Lozier, communications director for the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement. “The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus condemns these comments without qualification and will not support Shelly Headen’s candidacy.”

The Guilford County Democratic Party said it is withdrawing financial, operational, and organizational support. Party officials told WFDD they “unequivocally reject and condemn” the posts and that the comments “violate everything our party represents.” State Democratic Party chair Anderson Clayton deferred to the House caucus when The Assembly reached her.

Headen told WFDD she does not remember making the posts but apologized to people hurt by them and said she understands the party’s decision. “They're doing what's best for the party, and that's what they should do,” she said. “At the end of the day, we just need to get back to normalcy. Whatever it takes. If, you know, one person gets sacrificed which is me, that's fine.” She also said she has received death threats since the posts resurfaced.

“I’ve sacrificed myself just like Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross, and Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln and all the people that put themselves out there to sacrifice for our country,” Headen told The Assembly. “If a few angry moments on social media are the end, then so be it. MAGA will keep winning if we continue with not standing up for what’s right.”

Republicans pile on; the seat still matters

House Speaker Destin Hall called the attack-on-U.S.-soil post “absolutely disgusting” on X. In a WRAL interview Friday, Hall said someone who “essentially calls for violence against their political opponents” is “just not appropriate” to serve in the General Assembly: “She has a First Amendment right to say whatever she wants to say, but she doesn’t have a right to serve the people of her district.”

Republicans have also highlighted two 2024 Guilford County police reports that named Headen as a suspect and her husband as a potential assault victim. Headen posted that the reports were misleading and cast herself as the victim — “As a CPA, I believe in transparency and accountability,” she wrote — then deleted the Facebook version while leaving related material on her campaign site. Former Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes said her statement “raises more questions than answers.”

Blust won reelection in 2024 by fewer than 7 percentage points. WRAL and The Assembly both frame District 62 as one of the few competitive House races that could affect whether Republicans keep their majority or regain a veto-proof supermajority. Republicans currently hold 71 of 120 seats — one short of the three-fifths needed to override a governor’s veto without outside help, WRAL reported. Absentee ballots began going out Sept. 4; Election Day is Nov. 3.

Party machinery dumping a nominee after ballots are already in voters’ hands is the predictable cost of social-media archaeology colliding with midterm math. Voters in HD-62 still get the choice printed on the ballot — with or without a caucus check.

Sources