Just a few weeks ago, Shelly Headen was running an energetic campaign to unseat Republican state Rep. John Blust in a Guilford County legislative district that Democrats hoped to win.

Now, after the discovery of years-old social media posts cost her the support of the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus – and brought her a wave of negative publicity – Headen says winning an election is no longer what she’s worried about.

“My whole world has been collapsing,” Headen told the Rhino Times, at times sounding close to tears.

“I’ve been getting death threats and now all I want to do is protect myself and my family.”

Headen, an Oak Ridge CPA, is the Democratic nominee challenging Blust in North Carolina House District 62. State election records list both candidates for the district, and Blust currently represents District 62 in the General Assembly.

The controversy erupted after old social media posts attributed to Headen resurfaced, including several containing harsh comments about President Donald Trump and his supporters.

The Assembly reported Sept. 10 that Headen had written on Facebook, “I think our only hope is an attack on US soil… preferably Alabama, Louisiana… where the stupid people live.”

After Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024, Headen also wrote on X, according to The Assembly, “I’m so excited! Ready for the MAGAs to die off!!”

Another social media comment attributed to Headen suggested that Trump supporters might need to experience sexual assault to understand what Trump’s victims felt.

The Assembly reported that Headen acknowledged writing a number of anti-Trump posts but said she couldn’t remember the exact language of many of them.

Within hours of The Assembly asking Democratic Party officials about the posts, the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus announced that it would no longer support Headen’s candidacy.

“Shelly Headen’s posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates,” caucus Communications Director Sam Lozier said in a statement.

“The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus condemns these comments without qualification and will not support Shelly Headen’s candidacy.”

Headen isn’t asking people to excuse everything she wrote.

“I’m very, very sorry,” she told the Rhino Times this week.

Headen said she’s taken down her social media accounts.

“I don’t have access to any of my accounts anymore,” she said.

She said she can’t remember precisely what she wrote over the years and cannot now verify every post that’s now being attributed to her. But she acknowledged becoming extremely angry about the current political situation and posting things she shouldn’t have.

“I have gotten very, very angry about what’s going on and said some things I should not have,” Headen said.

She also said that of course she never really wanted any one to be injured or killed.

Headen told the Rhino Times that one of the posts now being attributed to her was not written by her and had instead been generated using artificial intelligence.

Headen said that even if that one of the disputed posts was fabricated, it did not excuse the things she acknowledged saying herself.

Her explanation for the anger behind some of the comments is deeply personal.

Headen said she believes policies pursued by Trump and other Republicans have inflicted significant financial damage on society and her family.

She and her husband operate a cattle farm and a garage-door business, and Headen said tariffs, sharply higher diesel prices and increases in the cost of supplies have put the businesses under enormous pressure.

“I have always been good to Republicans,” Headen said.

Her husband, she added, used to be a Trump supporter.

“My husband voted for him twice but now he’s really upset because we’re losing our business,” she stated.

Headen added that the political controversy surrounding her candidacy has created another potential problem because she fears customers may stop doing business with the family.

She said the combination of rising operating costs and the negative publicity have left her uncertain whether the businesses will survive.

“I don’t know if we’re going to make it,” she said.

Headen told the Rhino Times she sees why people who saw her social media posts became angry.

“I understand; it’s fine,” she said. “Right now, I just want to protect my family.”

Her campaign had already been dealing with another controversy before the social media posts emerged. Republicans publicized records involving two 2024 domestic-disturbance calls involving Headen and her husband. No charges were filed. In a Sept. 3 campaign statement, Headen said the incidents occurred during a difficult period in the couple’s marriage.

The couple has said their marriage has improved since then.

Headen said she believes the social media material was uncovered through organized opposition research rather than by someone casually coming across years-old posts.

“There was a dark money ecosystem behind it,” she said.

Whatever its origin, the material dramatically changed Headen’s campaign.

Blust won the district by fewer than seven percentage points in 2024 and Republicans and Democrats both had reason to pay attention to the race. The Assembly reported that Republicans had been highlighting Headen’s rhetoric even before the Democratic caucus withdrew its support.

It’s too late simply to replace Headen on the November ballot.

Candidates had until Aug. 20 to withdraw, and absentee ballots began going out in early September. If Headen were elected and later declined to serve, Democrats could use the state’s vacancy procedures to select a replacement.

Blust is an attorney and accountant who’s served more than 10 terms in the state House and one term in the state Senate, according to his General Assembly biography.

Headen’s involvement in politics, however, isn’t ending.

She said she plans to redirect much of the time and energy she expected to spend on her own campaign toward helping other Democratic candidates win.

She also said that she intends to return campaign money and contribute a substantial amount of her own money to Democratic causes.

“What I will do is give back everything and take my own money to reimburse the cause,” she said. “I am going to give a substantial amount – a substantial amount of my own personal money to help the cause.”

Headen said she plans to find an organization capable of using the money effectively to support Democratic candidates.

It’s far from what she envisioned when she entered the race: Headen said that she became a candidate largely because she wanted to improve public schools and she believed government should do more for people who were struggling.

She said she was particularly troubled by cuts and reductions affecting health care subsidies, food and nutrition programs and other assistance for children and families.

She also said teachers are not paid enough.

As a CPA, Headen said, she believed her financial background might allow her to identify inefficiencies in state government and fixing them while helping create what she viewed as a more compassionate government.

“I felt God called me to do it,” she said of entering the race against Blust.

She said that calling hasn’t disappeared.

It has simply changed form.

“I will find another way to help North Carolina,” Headen said.

About