Michael O'Shea (North Carolina)

Michael Greer O’Shea’s grew up in Mills River, NC where he now lives with his wife Jennifer. He graduated from West Henderson High School and then from Western Carolina University where he studied philosophy and English. O'Shea believes in common sense solutions that work for working families.

O'Shea's parents were the minister and music director of the Unity Church in Mills River for over 30 years before his father passed and they raised him to believe that “love they neighbor” has no exceptions. O'Shea's family has called the WNC mountains home since before the Revolutionary War and he ran for Congress in 2020, becoming the first millennial to be on the Democratic primary ballot in the NC-11 district.

O’Shea has spent most of his career in the music and film industries, working mainly as a producer, audio engineer, drummer, and solo artist. O’Shea has traveled extensively and has spent time living in Scotland, Sweden, Nashville, Chicago, Atlanta and most recently Los Angeles before returning home to Mills River, giving him a uniquely global perspective combined with deep roots in WNC. O’Shea also has experience in the real estate industry both as an investor and NC licensed real estate broker.

• We’re all pro-life, but the opposite of pro-choice is pro-control and I believe that your healthcare decisions should be between you and your doctor. Bodily autonomy is on the line in this election and I believe that legislators should respect your privacy because there simply isn’t room for the NC General Assembly in your doctor’s office. If we’re serious about respecting personal liberty, we need to stop legislating personal healthcare decisions. The simple truth is that you cannot ban abortion–just safe abortion. No one wants to be faced with this extremely difficult decision, but in many instances this is a life-saving medical procedure that I believe should always be left up to people to decide for themselves, not politicians.
• Expanding Medicaid in NC is long overdue and it’s time we close the coverage gap and provide affordable health insurance to over half a million North Carolinians who desperately need it and also create thousands of healthcare jobs in NC and help keep rural hospitals open. NC has lost billions by delaying expansion, all while we have been paying Federal tax dollars that we could be seeing returned to the state. 90% of the cost for expansion comes from Federal funding. NC would reap more than $500 million per month in federal funding and the state would save an estimated $15 million a month in spending. This move is common sense and it’s time the NC GOP stops the political games they’ve been playing for a decade and we finally get this done.
• North Carolina used to be a shining example of excellence in public education, but a decade of GOP legislative control has taken us from being the envy of other states to a laughing stock. My own wife left the field because of how poorly education is supported by the legislators in NC and we are now facing an unprecedented staffing shortage that will negatively impact our children’s futures. It’s time we pay educators like the highly-trained professionals they are and also fund the administrative support staff that educators need to make sure our state’s children have the best educational opportunities we can possibly provide. When it comes to our future generations, “good enough” should never be good enough. We can do better.

Almost half of Americans now live in a state where cannabis is recreationally legal. The writing is on the wall and we know it’s a matter of time until this comes to North Carolina. Right now we face a choice–we either take this as a golden opportunity to prioritize small farms for growing permits and make cannabis the cash crop that saves family farms in NC or we legalize it in a way that creates yet another monopoly for big agriculture. Personally, I’m on the side of using this opportunity to save the small farms that are the backbone of Henderson County and I will fight for that in Raleigh.