Brad Hessel

Brad Hessel is the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina State Senate District 18 in the November 3, 2026 general election.[1][3] A Raleigh resident whose career has included management consulting, game design and technical writing, he was also the Libertarian candidate for the state senate in 2016, 2018 and 2024.[1][2]

Brad Hessel was born in New York, New York, attended Sleepy Hollow High School and Phillips Exeter Academy, and earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1975.[1] His career experience includes work in management consulting, simulation design and development, game and magazine publishing, technical writing and training, software pricing schema design, and corporate web architecture design.[1] In a Ballotpedia survey, he said he moved to Raleigh in 1992 with his wife and three children and has coached adult softball and youth and adult soccer teams.[2] Ballotpedia lists affiliations with the Raleigh North Citizens Advisory Council, the Beth Meyer Social Action Committee and the Wake County Libertarian Party.[1]

Hessel was the Libertarian nominee in the 2016 general election for North Carolina State Senate District 15, where he finished third, and again in the 2018 and 2024 general elections for District 18, finishing third each time.[1] He advanced to the 2026 general election after the Libertarian primary was canceled.[1]

In the Ballotpedia survey, Hessel named smarter education, cost-effective health care and a stronger economy as his three key campaign messages.[2] He said he is passionate about electoral reform, including ending political gerrymandering, fairness for independents and instant-runoff voting for municipal and county elections.[2]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21. Not yet independently fact-checked.