A Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s House District 62 has vowed to continue her campaign despite the state party withdrawing all support following a series of social media posts that likened President Donald Trump supporters to concentration camp victims.
Shelly Headen, who is running against incumbent Republican John Blust, stated she would not quit the race after the Guilford County Democratic Party formally severed ties with her candidacy. The party said Headen’s rhetoric violates its core values of decency, mutual respect, and community.
Headen has repeatedly made posts on social media in which she described Trump supporters as needing to be “done to death” in ovens at the Dachau concentration camp. In one post, she wrote: “This is where Trump supporters belong.” She also suggested that terrorists should attack “stupid” people in Alabama and Louisiana.
The party condemned Headen’s posts as “hateful,” “violent,” and “unacceptable,” stating: “Language that references concentration camps, uses derogatory terms toward neurodivergent individuals, or invokes political violence is completely indefensible and unacceptable.”
Headen has also faced domestic incidents, with two police reports filed against her as the suspect in alleged physical assaults on her husband, Gregory. In a recent statement, Headen claimed that during an argument with her husband, he grabbed her and she fell backward, hitting her head.
Despite the party’s withdrawal of support, Headen has vowed to remain in the race, saying she has “sacrificed myself just like Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross.” She told a reporter: “If a few angry moments on social media are the end, then so be it.”