Name: Haseeb Fatmi
Age: 38
Party affiliation: Democrat
Campaign website: www.electhaseeb.com
Occupation & employer: Attorney, Ogletree Deakins
Years lived in the area: I was born and raised in the area, and lived here until I graduated college, left for law school and returned about four years ago.
1. What in your background qualifies you to represent the people of your North Carolina district effectively? What would you cite as your three biggest career accomplishments?
Before joining the Senate, I was elected to the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners, giving me firsthand experience with the challenges facing one of the fastest-growing communities in our state. I now serve as State Senator for District 18, representing communities in Wake and Granville Counties. Most importantly, I am from here. I was born and raised in North Carolina, attended Wake County public schools from kindergarten through high school, attended UNC-Chapel Hill, and this is where my wife and I decided to plant our roots and start our family.
I am an attorney and former adjunct professor with a long history of public service. I have been a practicing attorney for 14 years focusing on litigation, civil rights, disability law, and advice and counsel. I began in private practice before becoming Assistant Regional Counsel at the Social Security Administration, where I helped carry out one of the most essential federal programs in our country. I currently focus on employment litigation, where I provide advice and counsel to employers and small businesses, and I serve on the pro bono panel for the federal courts in North Carolina. I also taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor for more than a decade.
It is difficult to reduce a career to three accomplishments, but I am particularly proud of three things. First, I have dedicated my legal career to advocating for others—from families buried in medical debt to people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, farmers at risk of losing their farms, and individuals who cannot afford an attorney. Second, I have spent more than 26 years volunteering with Capital Area Teen Court, first as a youth advocate and now as a judge, helping young people avoid becoming trapped in the juvenile justice system. Third, I am proud that my neighbors trusted me first to represent them on the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners and now in the North Carolina Senate. Public service is a privilege, and earning that trust is something I do not take for granted.
2. What do you believe to be the three most pressing issues facing the next General Assembly? What steps do you believe the state should take to address them?
My top three priorities are: (1) combating the affordability crisis and lowering the cost of living, including lowering energy costs, as well as lowering taxes for working families; (2) supporting our public education system, including fully funding public schools, paying our teachers a livable wage with proper raises to keep them long term, and funding school breakfast and lunch programs; and (3) increasing access to affordable healthcare, including reducing barriers to expanding healthcare providers and lowering the cost of healthcare.
3. Federal cuts to Medicaid are expected to cost the state $50 billion over the next decade, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. How would you address Medicaid funding to maintain coverage for the millions of North Carolinians enrolled?
“We must protect Medicaid. Medicaid is healthcare for our neighbors, our children, people with disabilities, working families, seniors, and some of our most vulnerable residents. North Carolina cannot simply accept a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people lose healthcare because Washington withdraws funding.
My priority is protecting Medicaid expansion and maintaining access to care. The General Assembly must adequately fund its share of Medicaid, including allocating recurring funds for the state’s Medicaid rebase. We must protect provider reimbursement so that accepting Medicaid remains economically viable, and use available federal funding aggressively, particularly to protect rural healthcare providers. We also need to remove unnecessary barriers to healthcare expansion in North Carolina, like reforming Certificate of Need, which has repeatedly prevented communities like Northern Wake and Granville Counties from expanding hospital capacity and healthcare access. We also have to recognize that healthcare access and healthcare costs are connected. We should hold insurance companies accountable, increase price transparency, invest in preventative care, and increase competition and the availability of providers. The answer to a healthcare funding crisis cannot simply be allowing people to lose their healthcare.”
4. The General Assembly has voted to put a constitutional amendment on ballots that, if passed, would put a cap on property tax increases. Do you support the amendment? Why or why not?
People across North Carolina are struggling and need systemic economic relief. I oppose higher taxes on the working families that keep our state running. At the same time, we need to ensure that local governments can continue funding essential services like law enforcement, fire protection, schools, infrastructure, parks, and emergency services. That is why I have concerns about writing a broad requirement into our Constitution before North Carolinians know exactly what limitations and exceptions the General Assembly would subsequently enact. The amendment itself does not establish a particular cap; it requires the General Assembly to enact one. Those details matter enormously. As a former municipal elected official, I understand both sides of this problem. Property owners need protection from rapidly increasing tax burdens, but local governments also need sufficient flexibility to provide basic services, particularly in rapidly growing communities. Any approach must accomplish both goals rather than simply shifting costs or creating another problem elsewhere.
5. How would you address the rising costs of housing, childcare, and basic necessities facing North Carolina families?
“The affordability crisis is, in my view, the single most significant issue facing North Carolinians right now. North Carolinians are being squeezed by rising costs for housing, healthcare, groceries, utilities, insurance, childcare, and transportation. Families are struggling, and people are increasingly being priced out of the communities they call home. There is no single solution because these costs come from different places, and so combatting the affordability crisis requires systemic reforms.
The State should also lower taxes for working families and the middle class while making sure that corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. We should expand access to affordable housing while ensuring residential development is accompanied by the infrastructure necessary to support it. We should invest in childcare and make it easier for working families to afford quality care. We should hold insurance companies accountable, increase healthcare price transparency, and expand access to preventative care. We should stand up to utilities and ensure existing customers are not forced to subsidize massive new energy users. And we should prevent food retailers from price gouging consumers through algorithmic and dynamic pricing on groceries. We also need to increase the supply of well-paying jobs. That means investing in roads, water and wastewater, broadband, clean energy, healthcare, education, community colleges, workforce development, and apprenticeships. Affordability is ultimately about making sure that people who work hard in North Carolina can afford to live here.”
6. Climate disasters are intensifying: Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina in 2024, Tropical Storm Chantal flooded the Triangle in 2025, and coastal erosion threatens the Outer Banks. With much affordable housing located in flood-prone areas and FEMA resources stretched thin, what is your plan for climate resilience and disaster relief?
Climate resilience has to begin before a disaster occurs. North Carolina should invest in resilient infrastructure, stormwater systems, flood mitigation, emergency preparedness, and protections for natural resources that help communities prepare for the effects of severe weather before it happens. I have advocated for protecting green spaces and natural resources, discouraging clearcutting, preserving our tree canopy, and ensuring that development does not come at the expense of the natural systems that help control flooding. We also need to make sure that our infrastructure keeps pace with growth. Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater systems, drainage infrastructure, and emergency services all need to be planned with increasingly severe weather events in mind. And it is incumbent on elected officials to work with and rely on environmental experts and local communities to ensure that we are implementing the best solutions for each area.
When disasters occur, the state must be prepared to act quickly rather than forcing families and local governments to wait indefinitely for assistance. That means maintaining adequate emergency reserves, coordinating closely with local governments and federal agencies, and making sure recovery programs reach working families, small businesses, farmers, and rural communities—not simply the communities with the most resources to navigate the system. Finally, rebuilding should make communities more resilient rather than simply recreating the same vulnerabilities. Disaster recovery and long-term infrastructure planning need to be part of the same conversation.
7. The General Assembly recently passed a new congressional redistricting map. This marks the state’s seventh congressional map since 2016. How do you view the most recent redistricting? And do you support independent redistricting processes, or do you believe the legislature should retain this power?
I support an independent redistricting process, and one of my proudest moments in the Senate was signing a discharge petition calling for the creation of an independent redistricting commission. Voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around, and no political party should be in control of our elections. The fact that North Carolina has repeatedly redrawn its congressional districts demonstrates the problems created when redistricting becomes another instrument of partisan political power. Regardless of which political party controls the General Assembly, voters deserve districts drawn through a transparent process using neutral and consistently applied criteria. I would support removing partisan self-interest from the process through an independent redistricting system with meaningful transparency, public participation, clear standards, and safeguards against partisan and racial gerrymandering. Confidence in our elections depends not simply on how ballots are counted, but on whether voters believe the electoral system itself is fair.
8. North Carolina ranks near the bottom nationally in teacher pay. How would you address teacher compensation, and what will you do to ensure a budget passes that adequately funds education?
We must fully fund our public school systems, and that includes paying our teachers what they deserve. North Carolina cannot expect to recruit and retain excellent educators while failing to offer competitive compensation and then asking teachers to do more with fewer resources. I support meaningful, recurring teacher raises—not temporary bonuses—and a compensation structure that rewards experience rather than allowing veteran teachers to see their pay stagnate. We also need to invest in instructional assistants, school counselors, nurses, special education professionals, transportation, school facilities, and the other people and resources necessary for a functioning public school system. I also support funding school breakfast and lunch programs so that children are ready to learn rather than worrying about whether they will eat. Education funding should not be treated as an afterthought during budget negotiations. I am a product of North Carolina public schools, and my mother worked in Wake County public schools. Our public education system helped give me the opportunities I have had, and I want every child in North Carolina to have those same opportunities.
9. North Carolina currently has a 12-week abortion ban with certain exceptions. Some legislators have proposed further restrictions. Do you support the current law, believe access should be expanded, or would you support further restrictions?
“I do not support further restrictions on reproductive healthcare. I believe decisions concerning pregnancy and reproductive healthcare should be made by a patient in consultation with their healthcare provider, not dictated by politicians in Raleigh. North Carolina’s current law currently generally prohibits abortion after 12 weeks, subject to specified exceptions. I believe access should be expanded and that North Carolina should protect access to reproductive healthcare while ensuring physicians can provide medically appropriate care without unnecessary political interference.
These are deeply personal decisions, often involving circumstances that legislators could never anticipate when writing a statute. Government should respect the autonomy of patients and the medical judgment of healthcare professionals.”
10. Federal legislation will ban most hemp-derived THC products, like Delta-8, by December 2026, threatening North Carolina’s hemp industry. Meanwhile, recreational marijuana remains illegal and medical marijuana bills have stalled. What is your position on hemp regulation and would you address the upcoming federal ban, if at all?
Hemp and marijuana should be legal and regulated in much the same way we regulate alcohol, with clear and consistent rules concerning labeling, sale, age restrictions, production, testing, advertising, and taxation. My goal is to create an environment that protects public safety while at the same time protecting individual freedom and autonomy. North Carolina should not leave consumers or legitimate businesses operating in a regulatory gray area. Whatever happens at the federal level, the state should establish a coherent regulatory framework for products that remain lawful, with strong testing and labeling requirements, restrictions on sales to minors, appropriate taxation, and clear rules for producers and retailers. I also believe North Carolina should address marijuana comprehensively rather than continuing with a patchwork approach. Regulation provides greater consumer protection and accountability than an unregulated marketplace.
11. Iryna’s Law eliminates cashless bail, requires mental health evaluations for certain defendants, and attempts to restart the death penalty by requiring alternative execution methods if lethal injection is unavailable. The law also accelerates death penalty appeals. Where do you stand on the death penalty and these criminal justice reforms?
“I oppose the death penalty in all of its forms. I therefore oppose efforts to restart executions by establishing alternative methods of execution or accelerating the process by which the state carries them out.
I believe decisions concerning pretrial release should be made on a case-by-case basis, with discretion left to judges to consider the individual circumstances of each defendant and case. Judges are in the best position to evaluate factors like public safety, flight risk, the nature of the alleged offense, and the defendant’s individual circumstances. I do not support a one-size-fits-all approach that eliminates judicial discretion. I support appropriate mental health evaluations for defendants when circumstances warrant them. However, if the state mandates those evaluations, the state also has a responsibility to provide the resources necessary to conduct them. We should not impose another unfunded mandate on our courts, counties, or local mental health systems and then expect them to figure out how to pay for it.
More broadly, I believe our criminal justice system must protect public safety while also protecting due process and treating people fairly. Accountability and public safety are essential, and our laws should also recognize the importance of judicial discretion, mental health treatment, rehabilitation where appropriate, and the constitutional rights of every person who enters our justice system.”
12. Tech companies are investing heavily in North Carolina data centers, bringing tax revenue but also consuming significant electricity and water resources. How should the state balance data center investment with environmental protection and community concerns?
“North Carolina needs a clear statewide framework to ensure that data centers do not harm local communities. These facilities can impose enormous demands on electricity, water, land, and infrastructure. Failing to address those impacts is unacceptable. A statewide framework should allow local communities to place reasonable moratoria on data centers. Local communities know their needs best, and they should be allowed to do what is best for themselves.
Additionally, any new data center project should satisfy a three-part test. First, before approval, the project should prove its electricity demand and put its own money behind it so the cost of new infrastructure never falls on taxpayers or existing ratepayers. Second, while the project operates, the facility must bear the costs and burdens it imposes, including paying for or supplying its energy needs and addressing environmental and infrastructural externalities. Third, data centers should leave the public better off in the long run, including through community-protective siting standards and performance-tied incentives.
Our priority should be making sure communities are protected and actually benefit from any new development project. Economic development should improve the lives of the people who already live in a community, not ask them to subsidize somebody else’s investment.”
13. Give an example of an opinion, policy, vote or action you changed based on constituent feedback. If you have not yet held elected office, describe a time when you changed your position on an issue after listening to those affected by it.
“When I served on the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners, the town proposed expanding the Municipal Service District, which would have imposed an additional tax on many residents to fund downtown projects. Many members of our community came before the Board and explained how that tax increase would affect them. I listened. After hearing directly from residents and considering the competing interests, I voted against the proposal. Even though the Municipal Service District could have supported downtown development, I concluded that imposing the additional burden on those residents was not justified.
That experience reflects how I approach public service. First, I educate myself on an issue, including meeting with subject-matter experts, stakeholders, and affected parties who may have differing views. Second, I analyze those competing viewpoints and try to determine what will best serve the community. Third, I remain willing to revisit a decision as new information or changing circumstances emerge.
I am a public servant, and I have a responsibility to represent everyone in Senate District 18—not simply the people who agree with me or support my campaign. My door is always open, and my guiding principles are simple: listen and do the right thing.”
14. Are there any issues this questionnaire has not addressed that you would like to address?
“One issue I would emphasize is the growing divide between the resources available to our urban, suburban, and rural communities. Senate District 18 illustrates that challenge particularly well: it includes densely populated areas, some of the fastest-growing suburban communities in North Carolina, and large rural areas. Economic and infrastructural development cannot be limited to our urban centers. Rural communities deserve the same opportunities for investment, jobs, healthcare, clean water, safe roads, broadband, and a high quality of life. I have been working on problems with the formulas used to allocate transportation resources because those formulas can automatically favor more densely populated areas, leaving less-populated communities without the infrastructure they need.
My approach is regional. Water does not stop at a municipal boundary. Neither do transportation, healthcare, economic development, environmental protection, or workforce needs. I am working with local governments and community partners throughout Wake and Granville Counties to address those challenges together. Ultimately, my reason for serving is straightforward. I was born and raised here, went to school here, and chose to raise my family here. I love North Carolina, and I want to make sure the next generation can afford to build a life here too. That means affordable living, strong public schools, accessible healthcare, sustainable growth, good jobs, safe communities, and a government that listens to the people it represents.”
