Needham Bryant Broughton (February 14, 1848 – May 26, 1914) was an American printer, temperance activist, and politician who served as a North Carolina state senator from 1901 to 1903.

After several years of work in printing offices which saw him employed in Washington, D.C., and New York City, Broughton returned to Raleigh and married.

He served one term in the North Carolina State Senate for the Democratic Party to prevent the seat from being filled by an anti-prohibition candidate.

Broughton also supported public education, securing tax increases to fund Raleigh's schools and serving on the boards of trustees for several state institutions.

[3] When Broughton was 13 years old he was hired by editor John W. Syme to work in The Raleigh Register's printing office.

When the publication was suspended in 1864, he was subsequently hired by John L. Pennington to perform similar work for the Daily Progress.

[11] For three years he and Edwards owned The Biblical Recorder[5] and he held stock in the News and Observer Publishing Company.

One week Mr. Broughton left his business and went to Greensboro to take an active part in a revival being held by a Quaker woman evangelist."

Within two years the congregation decided that a larger building was needed, so land was purchased at the corner of Hargett and Person Streets and the Tabernacle Baptist Church was established.

[20] Due to his religious beliefs, Broughton was a member of the temperance movement and a strong supporter of the prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol.

[22] In 1887 he convinced African Methodist Episcopal Zion bishop James Walker Hood to appeal to blacks to support a Raleigh referendum banning alcohol.

[24] The following year he appealed to Raleigh's black leaders to join whites in a campaign against "Sin and Satan" and improve the morality of their race, chiefly by supporting temperance.

[25] Broughton's wider advocacy was also ultimately successful; in 1908 a statewide referendum approved a ban of the sale of alcohol, though the residents of Wake County had voted against it.

However, the state lost revenue generated by liquor taxes, temporarily jeopardizing the funding of public education.

[28][29] Broughton ran on the Democratic Party's ticket in 1896 in the Wake County constituency for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

[4] His decision was made at the behest of fellow temperance supporter Josephus Daniels, who disliked the local Democratic political machine's pro-alcohol stance.

Broughton's candidacy outraged the machine members, who, mindful of his popularity among white Christians, felt the issue of prohibition would divide their electoral support after the Democratic Party had only recently regained control of the state government.

[35] His daughter, Carrie Lougee Broughton, became the first woman in North Carolina to hold statewide office as state librarian.