Simply put, Daniel T. Blue Jr. is uniquely North Carolina. Born on April 18, 1949, he was raised in Lumberton, N.C., near the southern border of the state. Blue grew up with his parents on their farm in Robeson County where Daniel Sr. and Allene instilled in him the values of hard work and community. After graduating as high school valedictorian, Dan Jr. went on to complete his undergraduate degree in mathematics at North Carolina Central University.
On March 8, 1961, the Duke University Board of Trustees—the same board that Blue now chairs—voted to desegregate the university’s graduate and professional schools. Although Duke was one of the last major universities to do so, Blue took full advantage of this opportunity. Nearly 10 years later, he enrolled in the Duke University Law School, graduating with J.D. in 1973. During his latter years in Durham, Blue began his interest in politics—registering voters at Trent Hall on the Duke campus in advance of the 1972 presidential election between Richard Nixon and George McGovern. That was only the beginning.
Starting in 1980, Daniel Blue became a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and ever since, has been a member of the General Assembly except for a few short periods. He was reelected to his position as the representative of Robeson County eleven times and has worked with a special interest in issues such as education and job development. In 1991, Blue became Speaker of the House of Representatives, but lost the post in 1994, when Republicans regained control.
Being Speaker of the House in North Carolina was one of many firsts that Dan Blue has accomplished in his lengthy political career—he was the first African-American to hold that role as well as the the first African-American President of the National Conference of State Legislature and Chairman of the Duke Board of Trustees. He unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2002 and went back to his law firm—Blue, Stephens & Feller based in Raleigh, N.C.—before returning as the state senator for Wake County in 2006.
He has held positions on numerous critical current committees including Appropriations, Finance, Commerce, and also worked heavily on the redistricting plans of 2011 and 2015—both in which Democrats and Republicans struggled with their political desires, mainly revolving around the debate over majority-minority districts. Blue remains a member of the N.C. State Senate today and is also a partner at Blue LLP.
