NC State Senator Lisa Stone Barnes
Friends,
Early voting is just weeks away, and this fall we want to take some time to introduce you to a few of the leaders who’ve made agriculture a priority in Raleigh. First up: NC State Senator Lisa Stone Barnes of Senate District 11 in Nash and Vance Counties.
Senator Barnes has become one of the most consistent, effective voices for North Carolina agriculture in the General Assembly. She chairs the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee, Appropriations on Agriculture, Natural, and Economic Resources, and co-chairs the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission, giving her a hand in nearly every major ag-related conversation happening in the Senate.
Her voting record backs it up. In 2023, Senator Barnes voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto of that year’s NC Farm Act, helping secure critical protections and regulatory certainty for farmers across the state. This June, she voted to move the 2026 NC Farm Act forward, which passed the Senate with unanimous support. Sen. Barnes’ vote here completed a bipartisan effort to advance much-needed reforms for NC’s farmers and rural communities, like stronger agricultural water protections, relief from burdensome hog farm regulations, and an extension of the conservation tax credit through 2031.
The NC Ag Partnership named Senator Barnes our 2026 Ag Champion of the Year at this year’s Farm Show Dinner, recognizing her sustained commitment to advancing agriculture and rural communities through policy leadership.
Senator Barnes grew up on a farm in Nash County, and her late husband, Johnny, owned and operated a sweetpotato farm there as well. That connection to the land runs deep in her family, and it shows in the work she does every session on behalf of our state’s farmers.
As we shared back in May, North Carolina’s state legislative races, including Senate District 11, are drawing earlier and more sustained attention from outside organizations, with resources concentrated in a small number of competitive districts that will shape the direction of state policy for years to come.
Additionally, nonpartisan analysis from the North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation (NCFREE) rates this year’s Senate District 11 as a toss-up, with its 2026 Partisan District Score at D+0.77.
These factors make the Senate District 11 race especially important for rural voters to pay attention to. To learn more about Senator Barnes or get involved in her campaign, visit https://lisabarnesfornc.com/.
As we head toward November, we need to keep in mind that the leaders who understand agriculture from the ground up don’t get elected by accident. We encourage everyone in Senate District 11, and across rural NC, to make a plan to vote this fall. Early voting runs October 15-31, and your voice matters most when you show up.