Meet Rep. Donna McDowell White
Donna McDowell White was elected to her first term in the NC House of Representatives in November 2016 and is currently serving her third term representing the citizens of NC House District 26. She is the first woman from Johnston County to be elected to this role. In her service to the House Rep. White has been very active on the Health front where she currently serves as Chairman of the Health Committee and Chairman of the Appropriations for Health and Human Services Committee. Additionally, Rep. White is a Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Committee and a member of Education K-12, Environment, and Families, Children and Aging Policy Committees. Bi-cameral appointments include serving on the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services and the 2022 newly created Joint Legislative Oversight Committee and on Access to Healthcare.
There are many other task forces and councils that Rep. White sits on including the Child Fatality Task Force, Olmstead Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee (OPSA), NC Serious Illness Coalition, NC Falls Prevention Coalition, and the recently convened NC Council on Health Care Coverage. She was appointed by the Speaker as the Representative to the NC Cancer Coordination and Control Committee. Her strong commitment to public health, mental health and the overall well-being of NC citizens is demonstrated through her committee work. Rep. White is chair of the NCBIO Life Sciences Caucus, and a member of the Early Childhood Caucus, and the Joint legislative Women’s Caucus. Rep. White had many years of local public service prior to being a representative. She served 12 years on the Johnston County Board of Education, 15 years on the Clayton Planning Board, 13 years on the Clayton Board of Adjustment, and since 2004, is a member of the Johnston County Transit Advisory Board. Rep. White continues to be very active in civic associations and is a member of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, past board member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce as well as a member of the Smithfield Chamber. She was named the 2013 Woman of the Year for the Cleveland School Road Rotary Club. Rep. White was a local radio personality on a talk show for the prevention of fraud and scams’ targeting seniors for 5 years prior to becoming a legislator. She is a Paul Harris Fellow of the Clayton Rotary Club.
Her professional career includes being a registered nurse and she has worked as a public health nurse in communicable disease, school health, pediatrics, and home health. She was the statewide Nurse Consultant for HIV/AIDS, Migrant Health and served as the Nurse Consultant for a national Case Management Demonstration Project for seven years that became the model of modern case management. Her most recent position, until her retirement Feb. I, 2017, was the Home Care Consultant and Elder Rights Nurse for the Division of Aging and Adult Services at the NC Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. White is a member of the North Carolina Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and Past President of the Johnston County Nurses Association. She was named one of the Great 100 Nurses in North Carolina. In 2018 Rep. White was named Legislator of the Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association.
Past NC House committee appointments include the House Standing Committees for Aging, Health, Appropriations, Appropriations for Health and Human Services, Education K-12, Ethics and Judiciary III. She was also appointed to serve on the House Select Committees for Disaster Relief and Access to Rural Health Advisory Committee, NC Internship Council, and has a gubernatorial appointment to the Safer Schools Task Force in 2013 and was reappointed in 2016, 2018 and in 2020-2021. For the 2019-2020 biennium she was appointed by the Speaker to the Bi-partisan House Select Committee for Safer Schools and the NC Child Well Being Transformation Council.
Rep. White has been recognized by multiple advocacy associations for her commitment to many causes. She was named Legislator of the Year by Friends of Residents in Long Term Care during 2017 and 2019, and she received the Legislator of Excellence Award from the N.C. Police Benevolent Association for 2017-2018 being the first freshman legislator to receive this recognition. In 2017 she was given the Optometric Visionary Award and was also recognized that year for her years of service and leadership to victims by the Victim Services interagency Council of North Carolina. Additionally, she received the Capitol Care Givers Award in 2018 and was named as a fellow to the Legislative Health Policy by the NC Institute of Medicine. In 2019 Representative White was named the Legislator of the Year by the NC Association of Rehabilitation Facilities. In December of 2019 Rep White was named Legislator of the Year for the Children’s Advocacy Center of North Carolina and the Partnership for Children of Johnston County named her the 2019 Champion for Children. Rep. White was the Clayton Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2019. Rep. White was named a 2020 Hunger Champion by Reinvestment Partners for her work connecting people in need with healthy food during the Covid 19 crisis. In 2021 Rep. White was named the first recipient of the Champion of Aging Award by the NC Coalition of Aging. She also received the Legislator Excellence Award from the Police Benevolent Society in 2021.
Rep. Donna McDowell White
NC HOUSE DISTRICT 26
It is my honor to represent House District 26, serving the people of Johnston County.
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