State legislature
Adams began her political career as a member of the Greensboro City School Board from 1984 to 1986, before serving on the Greensboro City Council from 1987 until her appointment to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1994.
She was appointed to the state House to fill the seat of Representative Herman Gist, who had died in office. At the time of her appointment, Adams had already announced her candidacy to challenge Gist in the upcoming Democratic primary in 1994. The house district included most of southeastern Greensboro in Guilford County. In the primary election, she defeated O.C. Stafford, a businessman, retired engineer, and perennial candidate, who had previously run for office as both a Democrat and a Republican. Adams won a full term in the 1994 general election, defeating Republican Roger G. Coffer. She went on to win reelection in 1996 and 1998 against Stafford, who ran as a Republican in both races. In 2000, Adams was unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican Jim Rumley in the general election.
Following redistricting in 2002, Adams' district was renumbered from the 26th to the 58th. That year, she was challenged by Libertarian candidate David Williams, who withdrew from the race before the election but remained on the ballot. Adams won reelection with nearly 86% of the vote. From 2004 onward, she faced repeated challenges from Republican legal assistant and party activist Olga Morgan Wright, defeating her in every election through 2008, and then again in 2012.
Adams defeated Wright and Libertarian challenger Walter Sperko with 66% of the vote in 2004. In the next election Adams had no competition in the primary; she defeated Wright in the general election 66%–34%. In 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected president, Democratic voters had a high rate of participation, and Adams defeated Wright 71.35%–28.65% In 2010, Adams was challenged in the Democratic primary by Ralph C. Johnson. She defeated Johnson with 76.56% of the vote. Adams next faced Republican Darin H. Thomas in the general election, beating him 63.15%–36.85%. In 2012, Adams had no primary opposition and defeated Olga Wright in the general election, 79.86%–20.14%.
During her tenure in the North Carolina House, Adams was elected chair of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus and served a second term in that role in 2008. She also chaired the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, which provides scholarships to students attending the state's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Adams held leadership roles in several committees, including serving as vice chair of the Government Committee, chair of the Appropriations Committee, and vice chair of the Commerce, Small Business, and Entrepreneurship Committee.
