Zelda Briarwood

Zelda Briarwood earned a high school diploma from Council Rock North High School and a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina, where she studied psychology and outdoor recreation. Briarwood also studied adventure-based psychotherapy and adventure education at Prescott College. Her career experience includes working as a mental health professional. She has guided backpack expeditions at Red Oak Recovery, worked admissions at Outward Bound and CooperRiis, managed crisis services at Appalachian Community Center, provided case management for survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking at OurVoice, and worked as a technician with Quality Data Systems. Briarwood has served as the secretary of the Haywood County Young Dems.[1][2]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Zelda Briarwood, secretary of the Haywood County Young Dems, has been living and working in Western North Carolina since the 2010s. After studying Psychology and Outdoor Recreation at the University of South Carolina, then Adventure-based Psychotherapy and Adventure Education at Prescott College, she left college with the aspiration of becoming a wilderness therapist. Unfortunately, she succumbed to alcoholism and addiction, which nearly took her life. Today, she has over 7 years of sobriety, and has since used her recovery as a catalyst for positive change. She guided young adults in early recovery on weekend backpack expeditions at Red Oak Recovery, worked admissions at Outward Bound and CooperRiis, managed crisis services at Appalachian Community Center, and provided case management for survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking at OurVoice.

When Helene struck, Zelda was working as a technician with Quality Data Systems. She spent the next 3 months working to get ATMs, vaults, and cash counters operational for banking institutions all over WNC. During that time, Zelda witnessed the mountains face disaster recovery head-on. From Banner Elk to Murphy, she saw every single county come together for the sake of others, regardless of circumstance. Zelda, with renewed conviction, decided to take her expertise as an educator and advocate and use it to represent Western North Carolina at the national level.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We need universal healthcare. 69% of the globe's population has universal healthcare. It's unacceptable that the richest nation in the world cannot take care of it's citizens. Health insurance as an industry provides no actual benefit for the working class. It doesn’t contain costs, expand coverage, or expedite care. It makes all of that worse. Its sole function is profit. No one should be profiting on someone living or dying. I will fight to ban for-profit healthcare from the public sector. Furthermore, we should not be policing what people do with their bodies. I will bring Roe V. Wade into law, then work to have it amended into the Constitution.We have an affordability crisis. From 2016 to 2024, inflation and prices became the primary self-reported financial challenge. I will lower taxes for households making less than 1 million a year while increasing taxes for billionaires and corporations, which will ultimately bring in more money. I will hold corporations criminally liable for price gouging. I will raise the federal minimum wage to AT LEAST 20 an hour and peg it to the consumer price index and the inflation rate. I will ban private-equity firms from purchasing residential housing. I will integrate pre-k into the public school system. I will raise teacher pay and properly fund our public education system so teachers aren’t buying supplies out of their own pockets.Corporations are not people and workers' rights are more important than profits. I will make sure that all workers in the public sector have a right to unionize.

I will make sure that any companies caught exploiting their workers are prosecuted and heavily fined.

I will always prioritize small businesses over corporations. I will bust all of these monopolies that the government is simply just letting happen. I will tax the rich. When we actually tax corporations, they have two options: either they pay those taxes, or they invest in their workforce. I will make sure that AI is HEAVILY regulated so our workforce doesn’t suffer. I will work to overturn Citizens United or codify into law that corporations are not people.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Human Rights, Public Health, Social Safety Net, Bodily Autonomy, Universal Healthcare, Labor Rights, Environmental Policy, Renewable Energy, Immigration Reform, Women's Health, Public Education, LGBTQ+ Rights.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Center for Freethought Equality, Chris Harjes, Mental Health Now, US Term Limits

Campaign websiteBriarwood's campaign website stated the following:What I'll fight for

• Increase funding for rural healthcare because access to quality care isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.

• Strengthen Social Security by closing tax loopholes for the ultra wealthy, ensuring long-term program stability.

• Increase staffing to expand our ability to support our seniors and disabled neighbors.

• Reject every attempt to privatize the vital institutions of Social Security and Medicare.

• Restore funding and expand Medicare to cover vision, dental, and hearing.

• Lower prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices while also fighting to cap out-of-pocket expenses for seniors and working families.

• Expand Medicaid to cover more of our neighbors in need.

• Protect our community’s healthcare by expanding and increasing funding for hospitals and clinics, including clinics for our Veterans in rural areas.

• Support our nurses by ensuring safe staffing levels so everyone has access to quality healthcare.

• Ban for-profit healthcare and education.

• Review and expand disabilities and conditions accepted to receive Medicare & Medicaid.

• Allow Medicare to aggressively negotiate prescription prices to lower costs for everyone.

• Ban private equity from purchasing residential housing.

• Introduce Bill that restores full funding and staffing to pre-DOGE requirements for any department gutted by DOGE and the BBB.

• Introduce legislation that enshrines the right to Privacy and Bodily Autonomy.

• Reduce taxes for the working class and raise the federal minimum wage to at least $20. A full-time job should lift you out of poverty, full stop.

• Cut corporate tax breaks they don't need and instead pour that money into small businesses. Mom & Pop shops have always been vital community cornerstones and family supports.

• Invest in education by raising teacher pay and providing free school meals to every single student.

• Increase funding for continuing teacher development.

• Work with the Department of Education to create programs that connect incoming high school students with the option of vocational training or traditional high school, then provide avenues of connecting graduates with college and/or apprenticeships after.

• Fully fund special education and mental health services so every child has access to every tool they need to succeed.

• Disconnect school funding levels from student test scores, base on student numbers with a set minimum regardless of other factors.

• Introduce legislation that provides for free Community College for all.

• Review of and collaboration with other universal healthcare systems to find the best way to implement universal healthcare in the US.

• Resuscitate our economy by cutting company tax breaks.

• Provide tax incentives and grants for small businesses that hire locally and offer competitive wages.

• Invest in research that creates new job opportunities.

• Hold companies accountable for price gouging.

• Expand USDA programs to prioritize our farmers, give them resources to achieve competitive pricing and bring food costs down, and get them the help they need to continue to adapt.— Zelda Briarwood's campaign website (February 13, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.