Alma Shealey Adams

Current office and 2026 campaign

Alma Shealey Adams is the Democratic U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 12th Congressional District. She was elected to her sixth full term on November 5, 2024 ¹, in a general election contested against Republican Addul Ali ². She is the incumbent on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot for the same seat.

Background and education

Adams graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in 1968 and received her Master of Arts in Art Education in 1972 ¹. She earned her Ph.D. in Art Education and Multicultural Education from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, in 1981 ¹.

Career

Adams taught art at Bennett College for 40 years ¹. While at Bennett she led an effort to increase student civic participation, coining the phrase "Bennett Belles are Voting Belles" and organizing annual marches to the polls ¹.

Office history

In 1994 Adams was appointed by her peers to serve in the North Carolina House District 26 seat, and went on to serve ten terms in the State House, rising to chair of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus ¹. She won a special election in November 2014 and was sworn in immediately as the 100th woman elected to the 113th Congress ¹.

Legislative record and accomplishments

Adams serves on the Committee on Education & Workforce and the House Committee on Agriculture ¹. She serves on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, and she serves on the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture and the Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology ¹. She has previously served on the Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, and in leadership positions including Assistant Whip for the Democratic Caucus, Vice Chair of Agriculture, Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee, and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections ¹.

Her congressional office identifies the enactment of H.R. 5363, the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, as one of her outstanding legislative accomplishments; the office states it permanently provides funding totaling $255 million a year for all Minority-Serving Institutions, including $85 million for HBCUs ¹. Her office also credits her with the establishment of a $50 million research-and-development grant program for HBCUs and MSIs in the 2023 federal budget ¹.

Adams is co-founder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus with Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, and founder and co-chair of the Congressional Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus ¹. She introduced the Momnibus package in 2020, 2021, and 2023 with other members of the caucus ¹. Her office states that the HBCU Caucus won $40 million for HBCUs for scholarships, funding for newly established centers of excellence in agriculture, and additional funding for agricultural research and cooperative extension for 1890 land-grant universities in the 2018 Farm Bill ¹.

Adams has received the North Carolina A&T State University Human Rights Medal, described by her office as the highest award presented by her alma mater to an individual who fights against social injustice, and was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame ¹.

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