The lieutenant governor of North Carolina is the second-highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government. A member of the North Carolina Council of State,the lieutenant governor serves a four-year term with a two consecutive term limit. The current lieutenant governor is Rachel Hunt,a Democrat,who has held the office since 2025. The Constitution of North Carolina designates the lieutenant governor the ex officio president of the State Senate and a member of the State Board of Education. They are also required to serve as acting governor of the state in the event of the governor's absence,and assume the governorship in the event it becomes vacant.
Roy Asberry Cooper III is an American attorney and politician who served as the 75th governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as the 50th attorney general of North Carolina from 2001 to 2017,and in the North Carolina General Assembly,in both the House,from 1987 to 1991,and the Senate,from 1991 to 2001.
The North Carolina Cabinet is the group of unelected heads of the executive departments of the Government of North Carolina. It is separate and distinct from the North Carolina Council of State,the members of which are elected statewide,and which makes up the rest of the executive leadership of the government. All cabinet secretaries are appointed by the governor.
David Grier Martin III is an American politician and attorney. He served several terms as a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly,representing the state's 34th district. His district included the northern part of Raleigh in Wake County.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) is an umbrella agency that carries out many of the state's law enforcement,emergency response and homeland security functions. The department was created in 1977 as the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. In 2012,the North Carolina Department of Correction and the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention were merged with Crime Control &Public Safety to create the new agency.
David Peter Pekoske is an American government official and retired U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral who served as the seventh administrator of the Transportation Security Administration in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2017 to 2025. He served as the acting deputy secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019 and again from January to June 2021. From January 20,2021 to February 2,2021 he served as acting secretary of homeland security,during the Senate confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas. Pekoske retired with 33 years of active military service in 2010 as the 26th vice commandant of the Coast Guard.
Joseph Robert John Sr. was an American politician who was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives,having served from 2017 to 2025. He had formerly been judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He served on that court from 1992 until 2000. Previously,he had been a state superior court and state district court judge,based in Greensboro. He had also been a prosecutor and practiced at the firm of Pell,Pell,Weston &John.
Bob Steinburg is an American politician and former Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly. He served 3 terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives and 1.5 terms in the North Carolina Senate.
James Daniel Bishop is an American attorney and politician who served as a U.S. representative from North Carolina from 2019 to 2025. He is a member of the Republican Party. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017 and the Mecklenburg County Commission from 2005 to 2009. He served in the North Carolina State Senate from 2017 to 2019.
Robert J. Fenton Jr is an American governmental official who worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1996 and was appointed Regional Administrator for FEMA Region IX:Arizona,California,Hawaii,Nevada,and the Pacific Islands in July 2015. He had a leadership role in the development of the National Incident Management System and the National Response Framework.
Peter Thomas Gaynor is an American Certified Emergency Manager who served briefly as acting Secretary of Homeland Security under President Trump. Gaynor previously served as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He was appointed as Acting Administrator by President Donald Trump on March 8,2019,and became Administrator on January 16,2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of North Carolina on March 3,2020.
Michael Stanley Regan is an American environmental regulator. He served as the 16th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2024. He was the first African American man to serve in the role.
Michael A. Sprayberry is an American emergency manager who served as the Director of Emergency Management in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety from 2013 to 2021. He oversaw the state's emergency response to several major disasters including Hurricane Matthew,Hurricane Florence,and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Deanne Bennett Criswell is an American emergency management officer who served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2021 to 2025. Criswell is the first woman to lead FEMA. She was previously the commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Office.
Joseph F. DeCarolis is an American scientist and academic who currently serves as the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration in the Biden administration. His nomination was sent to the United States Senate for consideration on October 4,2021,and confirmed on March 31,2022.
Ebony M. Scott is an American lawyer who has served as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia since 2022. She previously served as a magistrate judge of the same court from 2020 to 2022.
Donald Walker Tunnage is an American lawyer who has served as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia since 2022.
