An army veteran is fighting gerrymandering with a new formula

Shelane Etchison is running as an independent in a district drawn to protect Republicans from Democrats

Shelane Etchison is about to make history–again. The first time, she became one of the first women to support Army Rangers on direct combat missions. This time, she’s going to be the first independent candidate for Congress in the modern era of North Carolina politics. 

Sometime between now and April 9, the county boards of election in the Ninth Congressional District, made up of all or parts of Alamance, Chatham, Cumberland, Guilford, Hoke, Moore, and Randolph Counties, will certify Etchison as a candidate for Congress. According to North Carolina law, she needs 7,460 signatures from registered voters in the district. She secured support from more than 12,000 people between January 15 and the March 5 deadline with a petition-gathering operation that spanned the district. While the signature validation is an ongoing process, she will get certified with room to spare. 

Etchison brings a formidable profile to a district that includes much of Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) and the veteran communities that surround it. She was in high school when the country was attacked on 9/11 and felt called to serve. She joined ROTC in college and commissioned into the army in 2008. In 2011, she became one of twenty women attached to the 75th Ranger Regiment, providing support on direct combat operations in Afghanistan. 

According to a Fox News report, “During the Afghanistan War, special operations forces hunted high-value Taliban and al-Qaeda targets. But the all-male teams weren't allowed to speak with women and children due to cultural norms, causing the U.S. and Afghan militaries to lose out on critical intelligence. As a result, the all-female Cultural Support Team was formed. Before long, the women proved themselves and won over not just the Rangers Etchison was embedded with, but top brass at the Pentagon.” Etchison also served in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.  

After eleven years in the Army, Etchison left to pursue a joint degree in business and public policy at Harvard. When she completed her studies, she returned to Moore County where she had made her home while serving her country. She works with non-profits and provides security consulting both here and abroad.

Etchison is running in the 9th Congressional District, which now runs from Hoke County in the south to Alamance in the north. It was drawn in November, 2023 to protect National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson. However, the gerrymandering was meant to protect Hudson from a Democrat, not an independent. 

The district is made up of 35% unaffiliated voters, 35% Republicans, and 30% Democrats. Hudson has never run in Alamance and Guilford Counties which make up almost 38% of the district. Moore, Cumberland, and Hoke comprise another 38% and are all counties heavily tied to the military base, both socially and economically. Etchison has spent most of her adult life calling Moore and Cumberland County home and is well known in veteran and military communities there.

Hudson has been chasing districts his whole career. For years, he had been living in Washington, DC, as a staffer on Capitol Hill when he decided to run for Congress after the redistricting of 2011. He initially rented a house in Cabarrus County, claiming that Concord “is a place I consider home.” Maybe so, but not enough to live there. He stayed in Washington where his wife worked and his son was born. When Cabarrus County got cut from the district, Hudson bought a house in Moore County, proclaiming himself “Fort Bragg’s Congressman.” His ties to the district are tenuous at best. 

Etchison spent her formative years in Florida and grew up in a Republican household. As an adult, she questioned the orthodoxy of both parties. In particular, she became disillusioned with a party that espoused support for liberty and individual freedom but opposed women’s rights to reproductive health. Overturning Roe v Wade solidified her break with the GOP. 

Etchison says she’s more comfortable as an independent. She believes hyper-partisanship has led to dysfunction in government and that many Americans want an alternative to the two parties. Her candidacy offers them something new. 

The Democratic candidate in the race has not waged much of a campaign so far. He lives and works outside of the district. He faces an uphill battle in the district where Democratic registration lags both Republican and unaffiliated voters. 

Etchison is running as an independent because she believes we need to shake up our political system. She wants to give voters a way to both voice their dissatisfaction with politics and beat the gerrymandering designed to strip voters of a choice. If history is any indication, she’s on her way. 

Full disclosure: I’ve been helping the Etchison for Congress campaign get off the ground because I believe we need new voices in our politics and because Representative Richard Hudson put party politics before his country and his Constitutional duty by spreading the Big Lie and voting against certifying the 2020 election.