Name: DeDreana Freeman
Age: 48
Party affiliation: Democrat
Campaign website: www.DeDreanaFreeman.com
Occupation and employer: Executive Management Consultant
1. What in your background qualifies you to represent the people of your North Carolina district effectively? What would you cite as your biggest career accomplishment?
My background combines lived experience, grassroots organizing, and proven leadership. As a two-term Durham City Council member, I have worked in the trenches to make our city more just and fair, serving on numerous boards, committees, and commissions and holding leadership roles at the local, state, regional, and national levels. That work allowed me to help shape policy, advance legislative initiatives, and navigate complex systems while staying accountable to the people most impacted by those decisions.
My biggest career accomplishments are the years of service on council and the work in the community to incorporate equity and accountability in policy. The clearest example of this is in fighting for fair wages and safer working conditions for city workers. I stood alongside UE 150 City Workers Union and the Professional Fire Fighters of Durham Local 668 to ensure wages truly reflected Durham’s living wage ordinance, without exceptions, securing over $16 million in the city budget and calling for a new, more equitable approach to future pay studies. I am also proud of many council related achievements like implementing unarmed response HEART (Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Teams), immigrant and refugee defense to protect families in our community, various task force recommendations, a housing bond, and non-discrimination ordinance to name a few.
Beyond City Hall, I am also proud to work with and continue to support community organizers doing essential work around food access, bail reform, housing stability, getting women out of jail, and mutual aid. Together, these experiences have prepared me to effectively represent my district with integrity, urgency, and a deep commitment to working people.
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?
The three most pressing issues facing the next General Assembly are passing a responsible state budget, strengthening public education and workforce development, and funding our healthcare needs. North Carolina is facing unprecedented strain with no enacted 2025–27 budget, leaving agencies unable to plan and communities at risk. The legislature must pass a balanced budget aligned more closely with Governor Stein’s proposal, one that fully funds public schools, healthcare, and essential services instead of prioritizing tax cuts that undermine long-term stability.
Education and workforce development require paying teachers and state employees dignified wages, investing in K–12 and higher education, and aligning training programs with local workforce needs. Current proposals offering average raises of 2.3% for teachers and 1.25% for state employees fail to even keep pace with inflation and retention needs. With record breaking surplus we need to address our worker pay deficits.
Finally, healthcare must be fully funded, including DHHS block grants, to ensure access to care, stabilize the workforce, and protect public health. Addressing these challenges requires rejecting austerity budgets, restoring public investment, and centering people over corporate tax giveaways so our economy and communities can thrive.
3. North Carolina expanded Medicaid two years ago. However, federal budget cuts now threaten the program due to a state “trigger law” that ends expansion if federal support drops below 90%. How would you address Medicaid funding to maintain coverage for the millions of North Carolinians enrolled?
Repeal the “trigger law” and advocate for Governor Stein’s proposed budget. As a member of the 50 member body of the North Carolina Senate navigating the needs of our state means understanding it takes 26 votes to make this happen.
Passing Stein’s proposed budget also means a significant increase for public education (teacher pay), childcare, workforce development, and health including the proposed refundable tax credits for working families.
4. The General Assembly has recently passed legislation limiting local control over zoning and development standards to address housing shortages. Do you support the legislature’s approach of limiting local zoning authority to increase housing supply, or should municipalities retain greater autonomy over land use decisions?
The current legislative approach is harmful to local budgets as the limits are on inclusionary zoning, infrastructure cost is shifted from developers to the tax base and as a two-term municipal policymaker, I have seen firsthand the strain that the current policy and North Carolina’s Dillon Rule places on local governments.
While increasing housing supply is critical, limiting local zoning authority is not the right solution. Municipalities should retain autonomy over land use decisions because they are closest to the critical needs and concerns of the neighborhoods or environment to understand local conditions, community needs, and infrastructure capacity.
North Carolina’s current zoning and land use laws too often favor developers over residents and restrict local governments’ ability to respond to displacement, environmental risks, and neighborhood preservation. State-level mandates have increasingly reduced local flexibility, preventing communities from making timely, context-specific decisions, particularly in historic neighborhoods and areas facing flooding, stormwater challenges, or rapid growth pressures.
While statewide standards have a role, the balance has tipped too far away from local control. Cities and counties should be empowered to adopt zoning policies, development standards, and growth management tools that align with their community values and long-term sustainability goals.
For example, state restrictions on local fees and impact assessments make it difficult for municipalities to recover the true costs of growth. Local governments should be allowed to assess reasonable fees for inspections, infrastructure, and public services like fire, schools and trash collection tied to new development so existing residents are not forced to subsidize rapid growth.
Communities should have meaningful ways to reflect their priorities like addressing housing shortages which requires collaboration, not preemption. State law should be reevaluated through a process that includes local governments, residents, and developers to restore balance and ensure that housing growth is equitable, sustainable, and community-driven.
5. How would you address the rising costs of housing, child care, and basic necessities facing North Carolina families?
North Carolina families are being squeezed by rising costs because state policy too often favors corporate profit over people. I would take a people-first approach that lowers costs and builds long-term stability.
On housing, we need to treat affordability as a public good. I support expanding public land trusts, modernizing housing and building codes to allow high-quality, lower-cost materials, and investing in innovative construction methods that reduce costs without sacrificing safety or durability. Updating our codes and zoning rules can help communities build more homes people can actually afford.
For child care and education, the solution is universal access. I support universal child care for ages 0–3, universal Pre-K, and fully funded public schools so families are not forced to choose between work and caring for their children. These investments strengthen our workforce and reduce long-term costs for families and the state.
Finally, we must stop feeding corporate greed at the expense of working families. That means restructuring our tax code so the wealthiest pay their fair share, protecting workers’ wages, and investing in supports like basic income, universal health care, and child care for families with low or fixed incomes. When we invest in people, families thrive and communities become more resilient.
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?
Families across our state are living the reality of stronger storms, flooding, and erosion, and recovery is still unfinished. Climate disasters are no longer theoretical for North Carolina. From Western North Carolina to Durham to the Outer Banks, preparation and investment must be made. Our neighbor need our tax dollars to work for more of us. My approach to climate resilience and disaster relief starts with meeting urgent needs while building long-term protection grounded in climate justice.
First, we must fully support recovery for communities already impacted. That means sustained state funding, not one-time aid, to help families rebuild, repair homes, and access temporary and permanent housing. I would work with our federal delegation and appropriations partners to expand congressional and state-funded buyout programs so families in high-risk, flood-prone areas have a real choice to relocate safely, rather than being forced to rebuild in harm’s way.
Second, I would push back against bills like Senate Bill 266 (2025) by introducing a North Carolina Green New Deal to strengthen climate resilience while creating good, local jobs. It would be based on former Governor Cooper’s Executive Orders to reduce our carbon footprint targeting a 70% reduction in power sector carbon emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050. This includes investing in resilient infrastructure, clean energy, stormwater systems, and climate-ready housing, while prioritizing communities that have historically borne the greatest environmental harm.
Finally, we must stop repeating the same mistakes. I would require environmental justice and climate impact analyses for new development, especially in low-lying and coastal areas, and ensure our budget includes resources to retrofit or relocate homes built before modern, climate-aware building codes. Climate resilience must be proactive, equitable, and people-centered so North Carolina families are protected today and for generations to come.
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 view the most recent redistricting as a continuation of a deeply broken process that has undermined fair representation and public trust for years. With North Carolina on its seventh congressional map since 2016, which alone signals instability driven by partisan advantage rather than respect for communities or voters.
My perspective is shaped by lived experience. In 2015, I was one of fifty-five plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging racially gerrymandered legislative districts in North Carolina that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. I testified in that case, with the now Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs who was serving as our attorney, and the courts ultimately agreed that those maps were unconstitutional. Despite that history and clear rulings from our courts, voters in North Carolina have continued to be forced to vote under illegal or unfair maps, reinforcing voter suppression and cynicism about democracy.
8. The General Assembly failed to pass a 2025–27 budget, leaving teachers without raises. North Carolina ranks 43rd nationally in teacher pay. How would you address teacher compensation, and what will you do to ensure a budget passes that adequately funds education?
Without a budget we are losing incredible talent to wage stagnation and addressing the teacher pay crisis requires passing a state budget with substantial raises, investing in benefits (like reinstating master’s pay), reducing class sizes, hiring support staff (nurses, social workers, behavioral health specialist), and exploring innovative pay models that include housing incentives that include rental or home buying subsidies, along with readjusting the pay scales to include strong starting salaries. I would continue to advocate as I have locally on wages and pay.
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, do you believe access should be expanded, or would you support further restrictions?
I do not support North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban and I strongly oppose any further restrictions. The current law moves our state in the wrong direction and causes real harm by interfering with medical care and personal autonomy. It forces people to carry pregnancies against their will, increases health risks, and disproportionately impacts Black women, who already face higher rates of maternal mortality, as well as families confronting severe fetal anomalies.
Since July 2023, additional restrictions on medication abortion and unnecessary procedural delays have put patients at even greater risk by making timely care harder to access. These delays are not medically justified and can create preventable harm. Forcing North Carolinians to travel out of state for essential healthcare is unacceptable and inequitable.
I believe access to abortion care should be expanded, not restricted. Reproductive healthcare decisions belong between a patient and their healthcare provider, grounded in science, privacy, and dignity, not political interference. No one’s health or future should be threatened by laws that ignore medical expertise and undermine any of our fundamental rights.
10. Federal legislation will ban most hemp-derived THC products, like delta-8, by November 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 how would you address the upcoming federal ban, if at all?
If elected, and the ban takes effect, I would work closely with our state and congressional delegation to draft policy exceptions and/or amendments with draft policy replacements for hemp as an agricultural economic resource for our economy. I would connect with the marijuana caucus to get the medical marijuana bills moving along with studies to assess the recreational marijuana impact on our Budget especially with Virginia legalizing use as a border state.
11. Gov. Josh Stein recently signed “Iryna’s Law,” which 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 changes made by the law?
I strongly oppose the death penalty and the changes made under “Iryna’s Law.” My concerns fall into three clear areas.
First, our mental health system is failing, and this law misses a critical opportunity to fix it. The tragedy that inspired the bill should have led to serious investments in behavioral health care, crisis response, reentry planning, and access to medications and treatment. Instead, the law risks further criminalizing mental illness by routing people with serious mental health needs deeper into the criminal legal system rather than toward care, stabilization, and long-term support.
Second, our criminal legal system is deeply racist and expanding or accelerating the death penalty only compounds that injustice. North Carolina’s history under the Racial Justice Act, along with multiple post-conviction exonerations, shows how racial bias, unconstitutional statutes, and flawed prosecutions have put innocent people, disproportionately Black people, on death row. Restarting executions, especially through alternative and archaic methods, ignores this history and moves the state backward at a time when trust in the system is already eroding.
Third, judges must not be constrained from exercising discretion informed by these realities. Restricting judicial authority through rigid bail provisions and accelerated appeals undermines justice rather than strengthening it. Judges need the ability to consider mental health, racial bias, and systemic failures when making decisions, not be forced into one-size-fits-all outcomes.
North Carolina does not need faster executions or harsher punishment. We need a humane, evidence-based approach that invests in mental health care, confronts racial injustice in the criminal legal system, and empowers judges to deliver true justice.
12. Tech companies are investing heavily in North Carolina data centers, bringing jobs and tax revenue but also consuming significant electricity and water resources. How should the state balance data center investment with environmental protection and community concerns?
The rapid growth of AI data centers makes this balance especially critical. AI data centers should be required to meet strict efficiency standards, and rely on renewable energy where possible. These facilities are extremely energy- and water-intensive, yet they often receive incentives without being held accountable for their full impact. AI data centers should also be required to pay their fair share for grid upgrades, transmission capacity, and avoid driving up electricity costs for households and small businesses.
The state should prioritize renewable energy, energy storage, and demand-management strategies as the first response to new energy load needs, rather than defaulting to expanded fossil fuel generation. Large energy users, including data centers, should be required to procure or directly support new clean energy generation so they are adding capacity to the system, not competing with residents for existing resources.
Environmental review and community input must remain strong, particularly for facilities sited near historically marginalized communities that have already borne the brunt of pollution and infrastructure impacts. With thoughtful policy, North Carolina can support innovation and economic growth while protecting public health, stabilizing energy costs, and advancing a clean energy future that benefits everyone.
North Carolina does need additional electric power, but growth cannot come at the expense of public health, environmental sustainability, or affordability for residents. The state’s role is to set clear guardrails that ensure new demand and strengthen the grid without shifting costs or harming communities.
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.
One clear example was my support for a cease-fire resolution during the Hamas-Israel conflict. While foreign policy is outside the formal authority of the city council, I listened closely to constituents, especially those with family ties to the region and community members deeply affected by the humanitarian crisis. Their testimony centered on the moral urgency of protecting innocent lives, particularly children, and the emotional toll of ongoing violence. After deep reflection, asking hard equity questions about who is harmed and who benefits, and grounding my decision in faith and conscience, I chose to support using the council’s platform to call for peace. That decision reflected my belief that leadership requires listening to impacted communities and being willing to act, even when the issue is difficult or outside traditional lanes, when human life and dignity are at stake.
14. Are there any issues this questionnaire has not addressed that you would like to address?