About — Ashley Bell for Congress

NC-10 Congressional Race 2026

Ashley Bell isn't a career politician. She's a Physician Associate (PA) working three jobs in North Carolina.

Every shift, she sees what happens when Washington gets healthcare wrong.

She's watched patients choose between prescriptions and groceries. She's filled out the paperwork that insurance companies use to say no. She's had the conversations that politicians never have to have.

That's why she's running. Not for a title — but because she knows what's broken, she knows how to fix it, and NC 10th District deserves someone in Congress who can say that honestly.

15 years in medicine. Ashley has worked in emergency medicine, primary care, rural clinics, and telemedicine across North Carolina — treating not just symptoms, but the stories behind them.
20 years as an educator. From public school teacher, to a university professor training the next generation of PAs — Ashley has spent her career putting people first in the classroom and the clinic.
Rural roots. Ashley was raised in ruby-red rural East Texas by small-business owners. She was the first in her family to go to college, and she paid her way through on Pell grants, scholarships, and part-time jobs.
Lives and works in NC-10. A Wake Forest School of Medicine graduate, Ashley has called the Triad home for years — and she's still here, still working, still seeing patients.
A long track record of leadership. Ashley has experience in leadership at national, state and local levels in her profession, serving on boards of directors and national committees. She has visited Capitol Hill many times advocating for PAs and patients.
A record of accountability. As a professor, Ashley took on a billion-dollar ed-tech company exploiting students. Working with media and the U.S. Department of Education, she helped force that company to shut down its predatory practices.

The story behind the candidate

I'm a Physician Associate, an educator, and a straight talker.

Ashley Bell didn't grow up thinking she'd run for Congress. She grew up in ruby-red rural East Texas, raised by small-business owners — her grandfather started an HVAC company in 1957 that still operates today. She was the first in her family to attend college, getting there on Pell grants, music scholarships, and sheer determination.

She found her calling in public schools — first as a junior high and high school band director in Texas, where she learned that good leadership means showing up for people, not just managing them. That conviction drove her toward medicine. She earned her PA credentials at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, and later a Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg.

For fifteen years, Ashley has worked in emergency departments, primary care offices, rural clinics, and telemedicine — treating thousands of patients and watching, firsthand, how policy decisions made in Washington ripple through exam rooms. She knows what it looks like when someone skips their medication because they can't afford it. She knows what it looks like when an insurance company overrules a doctor. She's been in those rooms.

She moved into education because she wanted to shape what came next — teaching evidence-based medicine and research at the master's and doctoral level, training the healthcare providers who will treat the next generation of NC-10 families.

She also knows what it means to be on the other side of the desk.

In 2023, Ashley developed a chronic illness. Her employer at the time refused to honor the disability accommodations that would have allowed her to keep working. She was forced to choose between her health and her job — and lost her income, her insurance, and her financial stability in the process.

That experience didn't break her. It clarified everything.

Because what happened to Ashley happens to working people across NC-10 every day. One diagnosis. One layoff. One denied claim. That's all it takes to go from stable to scrambling — regardless of how hard you've worked or how much you've planned. Ashley rebuilt her life, refocused her priorities, and decided that if she were going to fight for people navigating those moments, she'd do it from Congress.

She's already proven she's willing to fight.

As a professor, Ashley stood up to a billion-dollar ed-tech company that was exploiting students with predatory practices. She didn't go quiet. She worked with journalists and the U.S. Department of Education until the company was forced into bankruptcy and shut down. That's not a talking point — that's a track record.

Ashley has visited Capitol Hill multiple times to advocate for PAs and patients. She's served on national boards and committees. She's taught leadership at universities. She understands how institutions work — and how to hold them accountable when they don't.

NC-10 deserves a representative who's actually lived this.

Ashley Bell is a teacher, a healer, and a neighbor. She's not running to climb a ladder — she's answering a call from working families who can't afford another round of political games, from students drowning in debt, from patients waiting weeks for care they need today.

She believes healthcare shouldn't depend on your job. She believes every child deserves a fully funded public school. She believes no one — no company, no politician — should be above the law.

As Pat Harrigan's challenger, she believes NC-10 is ready for someone who will actually show up.