Wiley Nickel


Wiley Nickel is an attorney, and Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the State's 16th Senate district.

Career

Wiley Nickel, a former Obama White House staffer, was elected to the North Carolina State Senate on November 6, 2018 as a member of the Democratic Party. Nickel was elected with sixty-five percent of the vote while his closest rival Republican Paul Smith received thirty-one percent.
Nickel worked for Vice President Al Gore from 1996-2001 as a member of his national advance staff. He is also a member of Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Corps. Wiley later joined the national advance staff for then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008 and later the White House until 2012 traveling with President Obama in the United States and abroad.

2018 Campaign for NC Senate

Nickel was elected to represent the 16th Senate District with over 65% of the vote on November 6, 2018. His seat was one of the six seats Democrats picked up to break the Republican super majority in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Obama White House

Nickel worked for the Obama for President Campaign and then the Obama White House as a member of the National Advance Staff from 2008 until 2012. Wiley is a member of the Obama Alumni Association and was part of President Obama's first wave of political endorsements in 2018. President Obama endorsed six candidates in North Carolina, including Wiley Nickel, in August 2018. President Obama announced the endorsement via Twitter on August 1, 2018.

2019 North Carolina General Assembly - Long Session

Nickel was appointed to the Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee, the Pensions/Retirement/Aging Committee and the Education/Higher Education Appropriations Committee on January 18, 2019 His first legislative action was to co-sponsor SB3, a bill to expand medicaid in North Carolina along with a bi-partisan bill to restore Master's Pay for teachers in North Carolina. Nickel introduced Senate Bill 104 in February 2019 to effectively abolish the electoral college and award the presidency to the winner of the national popular vote. Nickel was a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 209 which would increase the scope and punishment of hate crimes and require the SBI to maintain and create a hate crimes statistics database. He spoke about SB 209 during a candlelight vigil at the Islamic Center of Cary to remember the New Zealand terror attack victims.