George Wayne Goodwin (born February 22, 1967) is an American politician. He was elected

North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance The commissioner of insurance is a statewide elected office in the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. The commissioner is a state constitutional officer, constitutional officer who leads the state's Department of Insurance and sits on t ...

in the 2008 election and re-elected in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. He was narrowly defeated in his bid for a third term in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. However, he quickly rebounded and was elected on February 11, 2017, as chairman of the

North Carolina Democratic Party The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh. The party contr ...

on the first ballot with 92% of the vote among four candidates. Goodwin previously served as a Democratic member of the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

representing the state's sixty-eighth

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district, including constituents in

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and Stanly counties. His prior district – the 32nd House district – also included Scotland and Montgomery Counties. Goodwin served as the commissioner of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles from 2022 to 2025.

Political career

State Legislator

After serving as President of the Young Democrats of North Carolina, Goodwin served four full terms in the North Carolina state House. Goodwin campaigned as the Democratic nominee for the position of

North Carolina Commissioner of Labor The commissioner of labor is a statewide elected office in the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. The commissioner is a state constitutional officer, constitutional officer who leads the state's Department of Labor. North Carolina's ge ...

in the 2004 election, losing in a close race to incumbent Republican

Cherie Berry Nora Cherie Killian Berry (born December 21, 1946) is an American politician who served as the North Carolina Commissioner of Labor from 2001 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she was the first woman to hold the office. Early life No ...

Insurance Commissioner

Goodwin served as the Assistant Commissioner of Insurance and Assistant State

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for the State of North Carolina from 2005 through 2008. In 2008, Goodwin filed to run for Commissioner of Insurance after the surprise retirement of longtime Commissioner

Jim Long Jim Long (born Timothy John Moynihan; February 7, 1943 – May 30, 2022) was an American entrepreneur, who worked in the broadcast music industry. Experienced in the development of intellectual properties, his business holdings focused on music ...

. Goodwin defeated David Smith in the Democratic primary 56%–43% and went on to beat Republican John Odom and Libertarian Mark McMains with 51.57% of the vote. He was sworn in on January 10, 2009. Goodwin won re-election in the 2012 general contest by almost four percentage points.

NC Democratic Party Chair

He was a candidate for re-election to his post in 2016. After very narrowly losing the general election, Goodwin announced that he would run for chairman of the

. With the support of 92% of ballots cast, he was elected to lead the state party on Feb. 11, 2017. Two years later, in January 2019, Goodwin won unanimous re-election to a second term as chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party. After completing a customary second term, Goodwin chose to refrain from a third term soon after his wife died from cancer and he had two children to raise. His first vice chair,

Bobbie Richardson Bobbie J. Richardson (born December 25, 1949) is an American politician. She is the former Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, former First Vice Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party and a former Democratic member of the North ...

, succeeded Goodwin as party chair. He unsuccessfully sought a third (non-consecutive) term as insurance commissioner in the 2020 election.

DMV Commissioner

In 2022, Goodwin was appointed commissioner of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. As commissioner, he lifted various restrictions for LGBT speech on vanity plates. Previously, vanity plates with LGBT content were not permitted by the Division. Under the direction of Goodwin, the DMV cracked down on racist and antisemitic vanity plates that had been approved due to creative spelling used to get around DMV restrictions. Goodwin has also made several changes as commissioner to streamline DMV service. He has implemented extended walk-in hours and extended business hours at several DMV locations, as well as expanded online services. He has also announced the introduction of DMV self-service kiosks in places such as pharmacies and grocery stores, allowing DMV customers to renew their license and registration while shopping for groceries or picking up prescriptions. In March 2025, Goodwin announced he would not seek re-appointment for his office, and was succeeded by

Paul Tine Paul N. Tine (born December 20, 1971) was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, serving since 2013. Tine is also an insurance agent. Elected as a Democrat in 2012 and 2014, Tine left that party in January 2015, changed his regi ...

on May 6, 2025. During his time as commissioner, Goodwin filled over 400 DMV vacancies across the state and decreased wait times by an average of 27 minutes. In his departure, Goodwin cited a lack of cooperation from the

in implementing some of his proposed improvements, such as opening new offices and hiring additional staff. He stated, “In addition to ongoing DMV modernization projects and online initiatives launched or expanded on my watch, NC needs a DMV workforce that more proportionally reflects the explosive population growth of our State. NC has had well over 2.4 million *new* residents over 20 years but only etted3 new offices...I have shared this fact publicly time and time again while underscoring that DMV is an essential service.”

Personal life

Goodwin was a Morehead Scholar and US Senate/William Randolph Hearst Scholar. He graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in political science and then went on to graduate from the UNC School of Law. While at UNC, he was a member of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. He was married to

Melanie Wade Goodwin Melanie Wade Goodwin (July 22, 1970 – September 1, 2020) was an American politician who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 66th district as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first member of the North ...

, also a former state legislator and attorney, until her death at age 50 in 2020. They are the parents of two children.

Electoral history

References

External links

Wayne Goodwin campaign siteWayne's World
* * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Wayne 1967 births Living people Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina commissioners of insurance North Carolina Democratic Party chairs North Carolina lawyers People from Hamlet, North Carolina People from Rockingham, North Carolina University of North Carolina School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly