Gale Brown Adcock

Gale Brown Adcock is the incumbent Democratic State Senator for North Carolina’s 16th Senate District, which includes Cary, Apex, and Morrisville. She is on the ballot for re‑election in the November 3, 2026 general election and will seek a second term in the Senate after first being elected in 2022 (term began January 1, 2023) ¹².

The North Carolina Constitution requires that a state senator be at least 25 years old, a qualified voter, have lived in the state for two years and in the district for one year prior to election, and serve a two‑year term with a salary of $13,951 per year plus a $104 per‑day per diem ².

Adcock grew up in southwestern Virginia and earned a nursing diploma from Virginia Baptist Hospital before moving to North Carolina for higher education. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from East Carolina University in 1978 and a Master of Science in Nursing (family nurse practitioner) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987 ¹⁶¹⁷.

Her professional career spans more than three decades as a nurse practitioner and health‑care executive. She served as chief health officer for the SAS Institute for 26 years, overseeing an on‑site primary‑care program that served roughly 14,000 employees and family members ⁸¹⁴²⁰. She has held leadership positions in the nursing profession, including president of the North Carolina Nurses Association, chair of the North Carolina Center for Nursing, and member of the North Carolina Board of Nursing ¹⁸¹⁷. Adcock is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and has been inducted into the North Carolina Nursing Hall of Fame ⁸²⁰.

In public service, Adcock was elected to the Cary Town Council in 2007, serving until 2014 and acting as mayor‑pro‑tem for three years ⁸¹⁶. She was then elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2014, representing the 41st district from 2015 to 2022, and served as Deputy Democratic Leader during the 2021‑2022 session ⁶⁸¹³. In 2022 she won election to the State Senate, becoming the first nurse ever elected to that chamber ¹¹⁴¹⁷.

During her legislative tenure, Adcock has served on numerous committees, most recently the Senate Appropriations on Health and Human Services, Commerce and Insurance, Finance, Health Care, and State and Local Government committees ¹⁵. She has sponsored legislation on a range of issues, including mobile driver’s licenses (SB 10), expanding primary‑care task forces (SB 83), AEDs in schools (SB 89), and Medicaid expansion and provider‑scope reforms (e.g., SB 181, SB 190) ⁵.

Adcock’s campaign platform emphasizes three priority areas: strengthening public education, expanding access to health care (including Medicaid expansion and removing outdated practice barriers for nurse practitioners and other providers), and modernizing infrastructure such as highways, broadband, and water systems ¹³²⁰. She also advocates for greater local control over environmental, criminal‑justice, and development policies, drawing on her experience on the Cary Town Council ¹³²⁰.

Adcock lives in Cary with her husband Kevin and their two adult sons. She continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member at Duke University, UNC‑Chapel Hill, East Carolina University, Wake Forest University, and Case Western Reserve University ⁸¹⁴¹⁷.

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