Corrected 11:22 a.m. | Like a lot of members of Congress, Wiley Nickel’s office is decorated with a bunch of photos of him alongside more famous politicians. There he is, deep in discussion with President Barack Obama, or sharing a laugh with Joe Biden. Unlike most members, though, these photos come from Nickel’s time before office, when he was an advance staffer for Vice President Al Gore and then Obama, or his time as a campaign staffer for Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California.
Born in California, Nickel moved around a lot as a kid, and his career scouting locations and setting up campaign events meant he was traveling “all the time.” Perhaps that played a role in cultivating his love of the Grateful Dead, the jam band as famed for their roving legion of Deadhead fans as their meandering musical stylings. He ended up in his wife’s hometown of Cary, N.C., and that’s where he eventually won a state Senate seat in 2018 and then a U.S. House race in 2022.
Nickel won the freshly court-redrawn 13th District in a squeaker, facing inflation head-on when most Democrats tried to ignore the issue. He thinks that’ll help him when the district gets redrawn again, this time by the Republicans in control of the state legislature, presumably into a harder one for a Democrat to carry.
