George Wilmarth "Wiley" Nickel III (born November 23, 1975) is an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for North Carolina's 13th congressional district from 2023 to 2025. Nickel served as a member of the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The Senate ...

from the 16th district from 2019 to 2023. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in 2022. On December 16, 2023, Nickel decided not to seek re-election after his seat was redrawn to heavily favor the Republican Party. On April 9, 2025, Nickel launched his campaign for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in the 2026 election, challenging incumbent Republican

Thom Tillis Thomas Roland Tillis ( ; born August 30, 1960) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from North Carolina, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Tillis served in the North Carolina House ...

Early life and education

Nickel was born in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, on November 23, 1975. After graduating from Francis W. Parker School in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and government from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Pepperdine University School of Law The Pepperdine University School of Law (officially the Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law) is the law school of Pepperdine University, a private research university in Los Angeles County, California. The school offers the Juri ...

Career

Politics

Nickel worked for Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

from 1996 to 2001 as a member of his national advance staff. He is also a member of Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Corps. Nickel later worked on

Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for president of the United States on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a majority of delegates in the Democratic primaries of 2008, ...

and served on the White House national advance staff from 2008 until 2012. He is a member of the Obama Alumni Association and was part of Obama's first wave of political endorsements in 2018. Obama endorsed six candidates in North Carolina, including Nickel, in August 2018.

2006 state senate election

Nickel ran in

California's 12th State Senate district California's 12th senatorial district is one of 40 California State Senate districts. It is currently represented by Republican Shannon Grove of Bakersfield. District profile Since 2022 New district boundaries drawn by the 2020 Californ ...

in 2006 against incumbent Republican

Jeff Denham Jeffrey John Denham (born July 29, 1967) is an American politician, United States Air Force veteran, and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2019. Denham first won election to t ...

. He was called "a moderate Democrat" and the race was seen as potentially competitive. During the primary election, he spent $250,000 on advertisements, mainly funded by personal loans. The ads, which mainly ran in the

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

media market, did not mention what district he was running in or his party affiliation. He lost the general election to Denham, receiving 40.2% of the vote to Denham's 59.8%.

Law

Nickel was a criminal defense attorney, having opened his law practice in Cary in 2011.

North Carolina Senate

Elections

2018

Nickel was first elected to represent the 16th senate district with over 65% of the vote on November 6, 2018. He held a seat that had been opened when incumbent Jay Chaudhuri was redistricted into the neighboring 15th district. His victory helped to break the Republican supermajority in 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 ...

2020

Nickel ran for reelection in 2020. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican nominee Will Marsh with 65.6% of the vote. He was endorsed by ''

The News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

''.

Tenure

2019–20 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. He co-sponsored a bill to restore master's degree and doctoral degree pay for teachers in North Carolina. Nickel co-sponsored 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.

2021–22 session

Nickel served on the Redistricting and Elections Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Pensions/Retirement/Aging Committee, and the Appropriations on General Government/Information Technology Committee in the state senate.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2022

Nickel ran for Congress in North Carolina's newly drawn 13th congressional district. The district covers southern Wake County, all of Johnston County, and parts of Wayne and Harnett Counties. Nickel won the Democratic nomination. The ''Carolina Journal'' wrote that Nickel ran "as a moderate despite a fairly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

voting record". Nickel was endorsed by The Network for Public Education Fund, the North Carolina Association of Educators,

NARAL Pro-Choice America Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America and commonly known as simply NARAL ( ), is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, politics, political action, and advocacy efforts to op ...

Communication Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media trade union, labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The unio ...

, the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, the

National Association of Social Workers The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is a professional organization of social workers in the United States. NASW has about 120,000 members. The NASW provides guidance, research, up to date information, advocacy, and other resources ...

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

Everytown for Gun Safety Everytown for Gun Safety is an American non-profit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was formed in 2013 due to a merger between ''Mayors Against Illegal Guns'' and ''Moms Demand Action for Gun Sens ...

, the

League of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "builds political power for people and the planet." Through its affiliated super PAC, it is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. The org ...

, the Voter Protection Project, the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

Equality North Carolina Equality NC (ENC) is the largest lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to character ...

, the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, North Carolina Asian Americans Together in Action, and Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics of North Carolina. Nickel defeated Bo Hines, the Republican nominee, in the November 8 general election.

Caucus memberships

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition, commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats, is a Congressional caucus, caucus of Political moderate, moderate members from the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the United States House of ...

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...

Problem Solvers Caucus The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group in the United States House of Representatives that has included members equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, with the Caucus' stated goal of fostering bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues ...

Committee assignments

House Committee on Financial Services A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

2026 U.S Senate candidacy

On April 9, 2025, Nickel announced his candidacy for the

, challenging incumbent Senator

. The race is expected to be highly competitive, potentially deciding control of the Senate in

2026 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Bulgaria is expected to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. * January 6 – The 2025 Jubilee will end on this day. * February 5 – The New START Treat ...

Political positions

Nickel supports abortion rights and codifying ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'' into federal law. Nickel voted against a resolution to condemn attacks against

crisis pregnancy center A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC) or a pro-life pregnancy center, is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion movement in the United States, anti-abortion groups primarily to ...

s, anti-abortion individuals, and churches.

Electoral history

2006

2018

2020

2022

Personal life

Born in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Nickel moved to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in 2009. He lives in Cary with his wife, Caroline, and their two children. Nickel is a second cousin of conservative commentator

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American conservative political commentator who hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. Since his contract with Fox News was term ...

References

External links

Congressman Wiley Nickel
official U.S. House website
Wiley Nickel for Congress
campaign website * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nickel, Wiley 1975 births 21st-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign Candidates in the 2006 United States elections Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Living people People from Cary, North Carolina Pepperdine University School of Law alumni Tulane University alumni