{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nBrandon Mills Bridges ran as a Republican for the Cleveland County Board of Education in the March 3, 2026 primary, competing for one of four available seats in a nine-candidate Republican field.\n\nBridges supported raising teacher pay when given the opportunity at the local board level, and made cafeteria food quality a cornerstone issue of his campaign.\n\n## Background and education\nBridges grew up in Shelby, North Carolina, and spent his entire school career in the Cleveland County Schools system. He graduated from Burns High School in 2009 and earned two degrees from Cleveland Community College in 2012, in Computer Security and Computer Networking.\n\n## Career\nBridges runs a local news page covering Cleveland County. He has been an advocate for food quality improvements in Cleveland County school cafeterias since 2022.\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [Brandon Bridges, Cleveland County School Board Candidate Interviews with WNN \u2013 Wise News Network](https://wisenewsnetwork.com/stories/brandon-bridges-cleveland-county-school-board-candidate-interviews-with-wnn,4674)\n- [2] [Facing the voters: Brandon Bridges \u2013 Shelby Independent](https://www.shelbyindependent.com/post/facing-the-voters-brandon-bridges-school-board)\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_school_board","county":"cleveland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Cleveland County Board Of Education"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Brandon","fullname":"Brandon Mills Bridges","lastname":"Bridges","middlename":"Mills","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_school_board","contest_title":"Cleveland County Board Of Education","county":"cleveland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"cleveland","office_key":"county_school_board","office_title":"County School Board Member","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"cleveland","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_school_board","contest_title":"Cleveland County Board Of Education","county":"cleveland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"cleveland","office_key":"county_school_board","office_title":"County School Board Member","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"REP","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_school_board","office_title":"County School Board Member","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"terms":[],"token":"5f4d330cecfb9b76"}