Your Support Matters
If you believe in inspiring our students, empowering our small businesses, and fixing the traffic issues that plague our district, then I ask for your vote in the November election. Follow us on social media, volunteer, or donate.
Together, we can accomplish big things for our district!
About Mike
Mike Schietzelt is a husband, father, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and attorney who will be a strong, effective advocate for northern Wake County.
The son of a disabled Vietnam Veteran, Mike grew up in a single-parent family in Burlington, N.C., where he learned the importance of service and hard work at an early age. Mike’s father often worked two jobs to take care of his sons. For Mike, school often took a backseat to helping his father keep food on the table. Fortunately, he had great teachers, engaged mentors, and a love for music that kept him in school.
As a young adult, Mike toured the world as a professional musician, performing in amusement parks and on cruise ships. In 2011, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a member of “The Commandant’s Own” United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. While stationed in Washington, D.C, Mike represented the Marine Corps before many of the highest ranking civilian and military officials in America, and he sounded Taps for military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mike currently works as a litigation attorney with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, where he represents small businesses, health care professionals, and faith-based organizations in civil disputes. He has authored briefs in high profile cases on behalf of Members of Congress, retired judges, and student ministries. Additionally, he has successfully advocated in the North Carolina General Assembly for sensible reform of the State’s criminal laws. Mike previously clerked for then-N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin during the 2018-19 term.
From his father’s example, Mike learned the importance of perseverance and the value of serving others. As a Marine, he developed the discipline, tenacity, and focus required to get things done. As an attorney, he is a strong, effective advocate for his clients. Now, he is ready to serve as a tenacious, results-oriented advocate for the citizens of northern Wake County.
A product of North Carolina’s public schools, Mike earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and his Juris Doctorate from the Duke University School of Law. He lives in Wake Forest with his wife, Carmon, and their four young sons (Arthur, Calvin, Daniel, and EJ). He attends Summit Church.
Issues
The Greek physician Hippocrates once wrote, “First, do no harm.” This is fiscal conservatism in a nutshell. You know best how to use your hard-earned money for the benefit of your family or your business. Every tax dollar out of your pocket is a dollar that you can’t use for that purpose. You deserve to know how those tax dollars are going to benefit your family, your business, and your state.
For years, Democrats in North Carolina over-taxed and over-regulated our people and our businesses. When the Great Recession hit, the results were disastrous. Since 2011, North Carolina Republicans have worked hard to lower taxes and cut regulations. The result? North Carolina now offers one of the best business climates in America. To keep it that way, we must keep our taxes low and use those tax dollars to maintain a strong workforce and quality infrastructure. As your representative, I’ll advocate to ensure public dollars are spent wisely and provide tangible returns for our state.
Every family deserves access to quality education. And every parent deserves to know what their child is doing at school. Opportunity scholarships and the Parents’ Bill of Rights are critical tools in our state’s education toolkit. But we can do more to lay the groundwork for a successful and prosperous future. We must continue to invest in our public schools. Talented, hard-working teachers should be rewarded for their efforts. We must do more to support arts programs and extracurricular programs that keep our kids engaged, help them find community, and teach them how to find common ground with people who may not look or think the way they do.
Our kids also deserve safe places to learn. To that effect, I support fully funding student resource officers and taking other measures to ensure our schools are safe and secure.
The rule of law is a cornerstone of American democracy. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a breakdown in trust between people and the institutions intended to maintain law and order. We have to restore that trust by ensuring that our institutions and leaders uphold and promote the rule of law.
Our government must secure the rights and safety of the people it represents. We should cooperate with federal authorities to remove violent criminals who are here illegally. We should protect the most vulnerable among us by tracking sexually violent child predators. We should increase and diversify the resources available to law enforcement to ensure they have the tools to serve and protect.
Our district is growing quickly. The population of Wake Forest has tripled since 2000. If you’ve driven on Capital Boulevard during rush hour, then you know that our roads aren’t keeping up with that growth. For at least twenty-five years, we’ve been exploring solutions to ease traffic on Capital Boulevard—but with little movement. And thanks to rampant inflation, the projected cost of fixing this issue has exploded. We cannot kick this can down the road any longer. We must invest in our transportation infrastructure to support our district’s workers, our businesses, and our families. I’ll work with leaders in Raleigh and Wake Forest to fund needed transportation infrastructure projects across our district.
I am pro-life and fully support measures to protect mothers and their children. Too often, advocates present the pro-life/pro-choice debate as a choice between protecting unborn children or protecting women. That’s a false choice. We can do both. And we should. Our state must help our communities ensure the physical, mental, and professional health of women while safeguarding the lives of our innocent unborn children.
We all have a duty to act as responsible stewards of our natural resources. As our district and neighboring districts grow, so do the challenges associated with conservation of our environment. I support reasonable measures to ensure the conservation of a robust natural ecosystem, clean air, and clean water—without sacrificing our economic health and without obliterating private property rights.
Your right to gun ownership is a fundamental right, codified in the Second Amendment. People do not sacrifice their right to defend themselves just because they give the government power to defend them as well. As your representative, I’ll ensure your right to bear arms is secure.
