Less than two years after Andrew Barnhill was the University's student speaker at commencement, he is launching a campaign for state senate.
Barnhill—Divinity '13, the student speaker at Duke’s 2013 Commencement Ceremony––is in the process of planning to officially launch a campaign for the North Carolina State Senate. The alum has begun to host meet-and-greets and more formal fundraisers across the state and nation to prepare for a public campaign announcement that he said will likely take place in the late summer to early fall. A Democrat, he will be running for a seat in North Carolina's District Nine, which serves the Wilmington area.
Though Barnhill was involved in public service prior to coming to Duke, he emphasized the influence of his Duke career on his political development.
“The sort of liberal arts education I got at Duke pushed me to think about the world through different angles," said Barnhill, who focused on the intersections between religion and law in his studies at the Divinity School. "Duke is serious about the concept of interdisciplinary and certainly for me, doing graduate work in two different disciplines––that was something I lived out every day.”
Since graduating from Duke, Barnhill has had various roles in organizing political committees at the local level, he currently serves as State Director of the New Leaders Council, a non-profit organization that provides civic education to train future leaders.
Barnhill acknowledged he will be one of the younger candidates to have run for the position. He said that he chose to enter at this timing because he feels urgency for an effective leader to step up, and he believes he can do the job.
"North Carolina needs new leadership, and it is going to require a new generation to provide it. It is no accident that two of the most closely watched State Senate seats were filled by a 32 year old and a 29 year old, respectively," he wrote in an email April 8.
Though Barnhill acknowledged the role of the new generation in state politics, he noted that this new generation draws inspiration from past leadership. He emphasized the role of former governors Jim Hunt and Terry Sanford—president of Duke from 1969 to 1985—as personal inspirations for his political message.
Amid state and nationwide discussion of the merits of a liberal arts education, Barnhill said the ability to consider issues from a wide range of perspectives is very important to his work.
“When you’re in elected office you’re having to deal with multiple, very different issues that somehow coalesce and affect one another on a daily basis," he said.
As a Divinity School student, Barnhill’s research with the Kenan Institute for Ethics focused on community organizing and the role of faith-based organizations in public life. Barnhill said that learning about religion is important for politicians.
“In North Carolina, we are a very culturally religious state," he said. "Coming to understand that was a significant part of my political growth.”
Joel Fleishman, professor of law and public policy sciences, taught Barnhill when he was a Duke student and noted that some of Barnhill’s research interests at Duke have become national topics of conversation.
“In his work in my course, he manifested a strong interest in public problem-solving," Fleishman wrote in an email on April 7, adding that Barnhill's fascination with the working of governance of public university and college boards foreshadowed some of the major problems that have recently erupted in many states’ public university governance.
In his campaign, Barnhill said he plans to focus on implementation, rather than ideology. He expressed discontent with the handling of a recent North Carolina General Assembly redistricting proposal, noting that it drew lines based on ideological affiliation rather than what was most practical. Barnhill’s plans include efforts to reverse the trend to nationalize the conversation about local politics, promote incentives for small businesses, strengthen the public university system and express caution with drilling policies that hamper the environment.
“What we’ve seen in North Carolina is a dramatic departure from the more pragmatic governing style," Barnhill said. "We need to spend far less time on ideological pursuits and far more time on finding solutions to North Carolina’s problems."
Barnhill said his announcement will likely come after the gubernatorial candidates officially launch their campaigns.
“The public is deluged with campaign ads and materials for almost an entire year," he said. “We don’t want to extend that public campaign period any longer than the public can expect to handle."
In the meantime, Barnhill said he plans to focus his efforts on fundraising. He noted that a large portion of fundraising takes place prior to a candidate’s official entry into the race, as quarterly filing reports with the state legislature are used as a metric for how campaigns are doing.
Though Barnhill said that campaign fundraising is currently his main focus, he also recognizes that public outreach is important in the months to come.
“I think a lot of people don’t pay attention very closely to what goes on in our state legislature," he said. "Part of our campaign is about educating the public."
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