Nesbitt was first appointed to the House in 1979 to fill out the remainder of the term of his mother, Mary Cordell Nesbitt, who held the House seat until her death. Groomed by one of North Carolina's most famous and influential politicians, Liston Ramsey, Nesbitt rose to become an appropriations chairman and top budget writer in the 1990s. Former Speaker of the House Jim Black (who was later incarcerated) found disfavor with Nesbitt after Nesbitt challenged his power in the early 2000s.
In February 2004, Martin Nesbitt was appointed to the North Carolina Senate by Governor Mike Easley to fill the vacant seat left by the resignation of Steve Metcalf.
After moving to the Senate, Nesbitt rose to become chairman of the powerful Judiciary I Civil Committee.
Nesbitt was unanimously elected majority leader on November 17, 2009, replacing Tony Rand.[1][2] Prior to his election, he received an endorsement from Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, a powerful nod in North Carolina politics.[3] After Democrats lost their Senate majority in the 2010 elections, Nesbitt was unanimously elected minority leader for the next legislature.[4] He stepped down as minority leader in 2014 for health reasons, and was succeeded by Sen. Daniel T. Blue Jr.[5] Within two days of resigning from the leadership, Nesbitt died.[6][7]
Nesbitt earned his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970 and his law degree from UNC in 1973.[9][10] He was married with two grown children and two grandchildren at the time of his death.
He died on March 6, 2014, one week after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was 67.[7]
Electoral history
2012
North Carolina Senate 49th district general election, 2012[11]
^Office of the Senate Principal Clerk (September 17, 2012). "Senate Committee Assignments by Member"(PDF). North Carolina General Assembly. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
