Ballard led charge to reopen schools during COVID

Working class roots, empowering parents to be focal points of campaign

"Sen. Ballard gave me and other parents a voice when we had none."
 

Blowing Rock, NC – Former Sen. Deanna Ballard today announced her candidacy for North Carolina Lt. Governor.

During the pandemic, Sen. Ballard led the charge to reopen public schools, recognizing the disaster that awaited the state and country from the awful decision to keep kids away from the classroom.

She went toe-to-toe with Gov. Roy Cooper, former Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, and the teachers’ union, forcing their hand by passing landmark legislation ordering the schools reopened.

Kelly Mann, a Wake County mom who partnered with Sen. Ballard in the school reopening fight, said, "I first met Sen. Ballard in 2021. I was a concerned mom uninvolved in politics but watching in real time the disastrous impact that school closures had on my kids. We spoke nearly every day over the succeeding months as she formed a coalition to reopen the schools. Sen. Ballard fought on behalf of my kids relentlessly, and she won."

Christine Hanks, a Carteret County mom, said, "I didn't live in Sen. Ballard's district when I reached out to her desperately looking for someone who cared about what was happening to our kids. She responded because she cared. She earned my deepest respect, and I will be forever grateful to her for getting our kids back into school. Sen. Ballard gave me hope and a voice when we had none."

Sen. Ballard said, "I've dedicated my life to fighting for our children and serving working families – the backbone of North Carolina. They’ve been stretched thin by inflation, looked down upon by elites, and told their way of thinking and worshipping is no longer mainstream. Enough is enough."

About Deanna

Sen. Ballard grew up in Lincoln County, the middle daughter of a school teacher and a logger. 

Her parents worked six jobs at times to help support the family. Deanna remembers her father’s hour-plus commutes to a logging job far from home, and the uncertainty when Dad was laid off at the Bowater paper mill. 

Because of her parents’ work and devotion to their kids, Deanna was the first person in her family to graduate from a four-year college. She’s stayed true to that scrappy, blue-collar ethic her whole life.

At a low-wage event-planning job in Charlotte shortly after college, Deanna met a Republican campaign organizer and got involved in politics as a volunteer. She traveled the country helping Republicans with historic success in the 2002 election, then rose through the ranks at the U.S. Dept. of Education, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, and the White House.

In 2009, Deanna started working with the Rev. Franklin Graham and family at Billy Graham's ministry and Samaritan's Purse in North Carolina.

She helped expand the organization’s charitable work to needy families across the globe, including North Carolina’s own people devastated by natural disasters.

In 2016, she ran for office for the first time to make sure the resilient people of Western North Carolina had a strong conservative voice in Raleigh. In the North Carolina Senate, Sen. Ballard focused relentlessly on empowering parents in their children’s schooling, just as her parents empowered her. 

She worked closely with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on his task force uncovering political indoctrination in public schools and fought to focus all levels of education on the skills needed to thrive in the workforce.

She's running for Lt. Governor to pick up where she left off.