Senator Kandie Smith Contact information

Kandie Diane Smith was born on October 20, 1969, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She is a Democratic member of the North Carolina Senate, United States, representing the 5th district. Before her tenure in the Senate, she was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and interim mayor of Greenville, North Carolina.

Smith obtained a bachelor’s degree from Charleston Southern University where she majored in sociology and minored in communications. Before her election to mayor, Smith was on the Greenville City Council, representing District 1. When the former mayor, Allen Thomas, stepped down, Smith was elected mayor by the members of the council and held that office until the next election in November 2017, where she won re-election to the council, again serving District 1.

In 2016, Smith attempted to defeat the incumbent state representative Jean Farmer-Butterfield for the Democratic nomination for North Carolina’s 24th House district. Farmer-Butterfield defeated Smith. In December 2017, after the incumbent, Susan Martin, announced that she would not run for re-election, Smith announced she would run for the 8th House district. Smith defeated the Pitt County Board of Education chair, Mildred Council, and the retired U.S. Army captain, Ernest Reeves, receiving 50% of the vote. Smith went on to face the businesswoman, Brenda Letchworth Smith. Smith defeated Letchworth Smith, with 64.6% against 35.4% percent. On January 1, Smith was formally sworn in.

As part of her duties in the General Assembly, she serves as a member of the standing Senate Committees on: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment; Appropriations on Agriculture, Natural, and Economic Resources; Education/Higher Education; and Transportation. Sen. Smith also serves in the NCGA as a member and leader of several caucuses, including: Senate Democratic Caucus Leadership, First-Term Senators Representative; Legislative Black Caucus, Vice-Chair; Bipartisan Joint Women’s Caucus, Second Vice-Chair; Cannabis Caucus; and Arts Caucus.

In 2022, she was elected to the North Carolina Senate, where she currently serves the people of District 5. The 5th Senate district of North Carolina covers all of Edgecombe and Pitt counties.