The following bio is that of an event speaker or guest author. This person is not directly affiliated with the John Locke Foundation.
Senator Paul Newton was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, and grew up in Eden, North Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and his law degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in ’82 and ‘85. He graduated from Harvard Advanced Management program in 2008.
Following law school, Paul joined the Hinkle Law Firm in New Mexico for five years, and returned to North Carolina to serve as a lawyer for Duke Power Company, becoming General Counsel of Duke’s national utility operations. He then moved into the business realm to serve as Senior Vice-President of Strategy, Rates, Wholesale Customers, Commodities and Analytics, and finally served as Duke Energy’s North Carolina State President, before retiring in September of 2015, after 25 years with the company.
Paul serves as the State Senator for District 36, which is defined by Cabarrus and portions of Union Counties. This is his second term in office.
Currently, Senator Newton is a co-chair of the Senate Finance and Senate Redistricting and Elections committees and is a member of 5 other standing committees: Commerce and Insurance, Judiciary, Education/Higher Education, Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources, and Appropriations on Agriculture, Natural and Economic Resources committees.
During the interim, Paul served as a co-chair for the Revenue Laws Study Committee and the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy. He was also appointed to be a member of 4 other non-standing committees: the Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations, Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee, Joint Legislative Elections Oversight Committee, and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance.
Paul has been married for over 30 years and has four children and three grandchildren.