Dave Boliek Says He’s Focused on Auditing, But All Eyes Are on the Election

State Auditor Dave Boliek pointedly declined to say whether he intended to run for governor in North Carolina during an Assembly Newsmakers event at Cannonball Music Hall in Raleigh on Thursday. 

“I’m really, really focused on being the best state auditor I can for the people of North Carolina,” Boliek told reporter Bryan Anderson. 

Boliek’s potential candidacy has drawn widespread speculation since even before he took office in 2025. After voters elected Democratic Gov. Josh Stein in November 2024, the Republican-led General Assembly gave Boliek control of the State Board of Elections, stripping the governor of that authority. Lawmakers then passed the DAVE Act, which empowered Boliek to recommend cuts to state agencies.  

Boliek’s handling of the elections has been a particular point of contention. Records obtained by the watchdog organization American Oversight showed that Dallas Woodhouse, a former NCGOP operative Boliek hired as his office’s elections liaison, pressured county elections boards to change their early voting plans in ways that critics argued would benefit Republicans. 

Woodhouse resigned in July. Asked why he hired Woodhouse at Thursday’s event, Boliek responded, “Well, I’ve known Dallas Woodhouse, and he knows North Carolina.”

Anderson asked Boliek about new records American Oversight shared with The Assembly that included a text message Woodhouse sent to the chair of the Granville County Board of Elections. In it, Woodhouse said that he and another Boliek staffer know “when your meeting is to shove our new Granville early voting plan down their throats. One or both of us will be there to support you and tell the Democrats where to go stick it.”

Boliek did not address Woodhouse’s text message, instead saying he believes that early voting sites “should not be put in a location solely based on population density, and that was the primary metric used in previous administrations.” 

A Boliek spokesperson told The Assembly that Woodhouse’s comments “do not reflect the viewpoints of our office and have no bearing on the upcoming election in Granville County.” 

Boliek told Anderson that voters “won’t see any difference when they go in to vote” next month. New rules from the state elections board could lead to more ballots being rejected, however. One rule that disqualifies improperly sealed absentee ballots has led to a lawsuit. 

Boliek dismissed concerns about these changes: “I don’t see any specific things that would impact any voter one way or the other.”

Addressing an issue of importance to the journalists and activists in the room, Boliek promised that an overhaul of the state’s anachronistic campaign finance portal would be completed by summer 2027.

In response to other questions, Boliek said that his team is “looking across” controversial legislative grants to crisis pregnancy centers, the Charlotte-based U.S. Performance Center, and other programs, though he didn’t say those grant programs would be audited. He also said there was no timeline for the expected audit of the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides private school vouchers. 

“That is an important audit,” Boliek said. “It’s a large amount of taxpayer dollars.”