Olivia Holmes Oxendine

Current office and 2026 campaign

Olivia Holmes Oxendine is a candidate for one of two at-large seats on the Moore County Board of Education, on the ballot in the March 3, 2026 nonpartisan primary ahead of the November 3, 2026 general election ¹. Her campaign website states she has been endorsed by the Moore County Republican Party ². Per that site, her platform calls for following "the laws that protect parents' rights," "eliminat[ing] all forms of radical teaching: critical race theory and gender indoctrination," and complying with "Title IX and the sections prohibiting boys from competing on girls' teams," along with maintaining "rigorous standards and high expectations" academically and expanding Career and Technical Education courses ². She is a registered Republican voter in Moore County since 2022, per the North Carolina voter file ³.

Background and education

Per her campaign website, Oxendine is a native of Lumberton, NC, and holds a B.A. in English from UNC Pembroke, an M.A. in School Administration from Appalachian State University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from UNC Greensboro, along with advanced study at Stanford University in gifted education and a credential from the Yale Child Study Center in child-centered school reform ².

Career

Oxendine's campaign website describes more than five decades in public education: she began as an English teacher and went on to serve as an assistant principal, principal, state department director, and regional director in North Carolina, Illinois, and South Carolina ². She served as principal of the former Southern Pines Middle School, in Moore County, in the late 1980s, and later directed the state's dropout-prevention program and the NC DARE Program, per the same source ². For nearly 10 years she was the Sandhills Regional Director for K-12 English Language Arts; for nearly 20 years she held a faculty position at UNC Pembroke preparing graduate students to become principals, retiring from the university in 2024 and receiving the Order of the Longleaf Pine and UNC Pembroke's James Holshouser Award for Distinguished Public Service, her campaign website states ².

Office history

Oxendine's campaign website says she was appointed to the North Carolina State Board of Education by then-Governor Pat McCrory in 2013 ². She ran as the Republican nominee for North Carolina House of Representatives District 47 in 2020, losing to Democratic incumbent Charles Graham, 52.4% to 47.6%, according to Ballotpedia's record of the certified results ⁴.

Legislative record and accomplishments

Per her campaign website, Oxendine says she worked "to incorporate conservative themes into social studies standards and to identify critical race theory across grades" during her tenure on the State Board of Education, and serves as the board's liaison to the State Advisory Council on Indian Education ².

Sources