Meet the Candidates: N.C.'s Jane Campbell

The Victory Fund is working to elect dozens of LGBT candidates to higher office and we're featuring the stories of several of these men and women as the election nears.

Jane Campbell could make history in North Carolina November 8 as the first openly LGBT female representative in the state House.

Campbell, a lesbian, is running against John Bradford, an anti-LGBT Republican incumbent, in House District 98. The district is "majority-Republican," reports Charlotte Magazine. Campbell is a retired Naval officer. During her time in the Navy, Campbell served in Pearl Harbor, Afghanistan, the Pentagon, and the White House.

Campbell has been endorsed by The Charlotte Observer, which recently declined to endorse North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. The paper has endorsed McCrory in each of his campaigns for office since 1992, but it refused to endorse him this election after he signed House Bill 2, the state's anti-LGBT bill, into law. Campbell's opponent, John Bradford, not only voted for HB 2, but he also helped draft and sponsor the bill.

HB 2 struck down LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination ordinances in cities and counties statewide, and prohibits cities from adopting any new ones. It also expressly requires transgender people to use public bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match their gender identity, when these are in government buildings.

"We prefer Campbell, a Davidson graduate who is unaffiliated but backed by Democrats. She helped supervise multimillion-dollar military departments in the Navy, honing leadership and consensus-building skills. She would bring a much-needed new LGBT voice to the General Assembly," the Observer wrote in its endorsement.

If elected to public office, Campbell says she would support efforts to repeal HB 2. She also wants to close tax loopholes and roll back what she calls "tax giveaways to out-of-state corporations and special interests." Campbell plans to make education a top priority.