During Jim Holshouser's tenure as governor, Little was appointed Secretary of Natural and Economic Resources.
[1] Little served for years as chair of the Sandhills Community College Board of Trustees and campaigned for the successful 2000 North Carolina higher education bond measure.
Little's work on the board of his local community college has been praised for being completely nonpartisan.
[citation needed] Little entered the race for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Mike Easley in 2004.
[2] In 2009, he was considered a possible candidate for chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party[3] but endorsed Tom Fetzer instead.