North Carolina Democratic legislative candidate abandoned by party over social media posts comparing MAGA to Nazis

Shelly Headen, a certified public accountant and small business owner challenging Republican state Rep. John Blust in Greensboro-anchored Guilford County, drew national attention this week after old social media posts resurfaced showing her calling for an attack on U.S. soil and comparing Donald Trump and his supporters to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Among the posts, Headen wrote approximately one year ago, "I think our only hope is an attack on US Soil … preferably Alabama, Louisiana … where the stupid people live." In separate posts, she argued that Trump was "getting close to surpassing Hitler" and that the "MAGA cult may be more destructive and evil than the Nazis." Breitbart reported on a Facebook post showing Headen at the Dachau concentration camp memorial with the words "This is where Trump supporters belong." Headen denied to the Greensboro News and Record that she authored that image, saying she believed it had been edited to add the words over a real photo she posted.

The posts gained renewed national visibility after the White House Rapid Response account shared them on X. The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus issued a statement saying Headen's posts "are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates" and that it "condemns these comments without qualification." The Guilford County Democratic Party announced it was "formally withdrawing all financial, operational and organizational support" for her campaign. Roy Cooper, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee who had appeared in a photo with Headen, issued a statement through his campaign saying he "strongly condemns" the remarks "and all forms of political violence."