A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2018 after serving for six years on the Nash County board of commissioners.

She graduated from Southern Nash High School and Peace College before marrying Johnny Carson Barnes at Middlesex Church of God on December 12, 1987.

[1][2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from North Carolina State University in 1988 and completed the legal assistant program at Meredith College.

[10] That November, she succeeded in unseating incumbent Democratic representative Bobbie Richardson, whose district was heavily redrawn in response to a federal lawsuit alleging racial gerrymandering by the state legislature.

[12] After defeating Johnston County commissioner Patrick Harris and retired Air Force colonel Dennis Nielsen in the March primary by a wide margin, she faced the Democratic nominee, former senator Allen Wellons in November.