{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nJames Marshburn \"Mark\" Speed is the Democratic candidate for North Carolina House of Representatives District 7, covering Franklin and Vance counties, on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot [1][2]. He filed to run on December 2, 2025 [1]. The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2026 was canceled, and Speed advanced directly to the general election, where he faces Republican Cory Thornton [2].\n\n## Background and education\nSpeed has served as a Franklin County Commissioner since his appointment in 2017 and previously served on community-service boards representing Franklin, Nash, and Vance counties, per his own account in a 2022 Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey filed during an earlier run for NC State Senate District 11 [3]. He is the son of the late James D. Speed, who represented the area in the North Carolina General Assembly for more than 30 years and is honored posthumously through the Franklin County Cattlemen's Association's Senator James D. Speed Achievement Scholarship [3][4]. Speed lives in Louisburg, NC [3].\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2026 Candidate Filing List (CSV)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Elections/2026/Candidate%20Filing/Candidate_Listing_2026.csv) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20\n- [2] [Mark Speed - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Mark_Speed)\n- [3] Mark Speed's 2022 Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey response, on his Ballotpedia profile \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20 (candidate-submitted; reflects his own account as of that survey)\n- [4] [Senator James D. Speed Achievement Scholarship - Morning Ag Clips](https://www.morningagclips.com/senator-james-d-speed-achievement-scholarship/)","campaigns":[{"contest":"state_house_007","county":"franklin","county_count":3,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Nc House Of Representatives District 007"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"James","fullname":"James Marshburn Speed","lastname":"Speed","middlename":"Marshburn","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"state_house_007","contest_title":"Nc House Of Representatives District 007","county":"franklin","county_count":3,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"state_house","office_title":"State Representative","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"state_house_007","contest_title":"Nc House Of Representatives District 007","county":"franklin","county_count":3,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"state_house","office_title":"State Representative","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"state_house","office_title":"State Representative","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"summary":"Insufficient evidence to identify James Marshburn Speed or his activities in the provided sources.","terms":[],"token":"1949227f26f294aa"}