Source: Editorial
John Blust has a long political history in North Carolina. First elected to the State Senate in 1996, he served one term before he was elected to the State House in 2000 and served for 18 years. He decided not to seek reelection in 2018. His reasoning at the time was that a federal judge’s redistricting ruling placed him in an unfavorable district. Blust eventually came back to the State House after winning his election in 2024 and is currently running for reelection.
On his campaign website, Blust describes himself as a “leader” who has delivered for Guilford County residents. However, a closer look at his legislative record shows he’s not a leader for the people of Guilford County, but a devout follower of the Republican Party agenda that delivers for big businesses and billionaires over everyday North Carolinians.
While Blust helps big, wealthy corporations succeed, North Carolinians are hurting financially from inflation and rising prices. From gas to groceries, many families are having to cut back on spending and make tough choices due to the economic climate. Many of the rising prices can be attributed to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as his war with Iran. However, North Carolina households are also seeing higher utility bills, with Duke Energy seeking to take even more from North Carolina families through a rate hike currently being debated in front of the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
Blust joined his peers in passing Senate Bill 266. Though the bill is titled The Power Bill Reduction Act, the bill allows utility companies like Duke to take more from ratepayers, shifting over $87 million in annual payments from the state’s commercial and industrial customers to residential customers. Governor Josh Stein vetoed the measure, saying it was up to politicians to focus on lowering electricity costs for working families — not raising them. Blust and other Republicans disagreed, and overrode his veto of the bill, making it law.
On the financial front, Blust and his party have touted their work with tax cuts, claiming to be delivering for the families of North Carolina through several tax cuts dating back over a decade. Most recently, Blust and other Republicans passed legislation to put constitutional amendments on the ballot this November that would cap the state’s income and property taxes. However, these tax cuts would provide little relief to the average family. Instead, these tax cuts deliver the largest benefits to big corporations and the wealthiest individuals in the state.
These cuts for billionaires and corporations leave working families to foot the bill.
“When those revenue sources are reduced or capped, the need for public revenue does not disappear. Instead, the costs are more likely to be shifted onto low- and middle-income families through sales taxes, property taxes, fees, service cuts, and other revenue sources that take a larger share of income from people who have less and widen the wealth gap. This means millionaires and wealthy households are the primary beneficiaries, while working families are more likely to pay in other ways,” stated an analysis from the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center.
In addition to providing generous tax breaks to the richest individuals in the state, Blust and his GOP peers also passed legislation that allows taxpayer dollars to be used to send kids to private schools. The bill dedicates hundreds of millions of dollars for that purpose, with the new state budget they put forward solidifying the funding schedule that increases the program’s appropriation to over $800 million per year by the early 2030s. Data from 2025 shows that many of the vouchers that year went to families with kids already previously enrolled in private schools, and nearly a quarter of all recipients were in the state’s highest income bracket ($259,750 or more for a family of four).
The millions of dollars poured into the state’s school voucher program mean less money for public schools to rebuild, hire teachers, expand operations and gather supplies. For Guilford County public schools, over $11 million in funding would be removed and then funneled into the Republican private school voucher program, according to a statewide analysis.
Blust has been in politics for nearly two decades and, despite his messaging, he has not delivered for the people of Guilford County or the state at large. His opponent has a different vision in mind and aims to uplift everyone in Guilford County and beyond. Democratic candidate Shelly Headen, a small business owner who also works with a nonprofit dedicated to cancer research and serves as Chair of her local Democratic Party precinct, is running against Blust.
Headen wants to serve her community in the state House to “support our families, strengthen our communities, and use our resources wisely,” according to her campaign website.
She aims to uplift public education, responsibility and transparency from lawmakers, and fight for affordability in housing and healthcare, as so many North Carolinians struggle with.
