NC Democrats: Tangled Up In Blue
As an increasingly urban party, Democrats have lost every presidential and U.S. Senate contest in North Carolina since 2008. In November, Republican Ted Budd defeated Cheri Beasley by three points in the U.S. Senate race. Republicans also swept the six statewide judicial contests and came one House seat away from supermajorities in both state legislative chambers.
Democrats head into the 2024 election cycle in a precarious position. Their most popular politician, Gov. Roy Cooper, is a lame duck. And another underperformance could shatter perceptions of North Carolina as a swing state, potentially starving them of resources and exiling them to the political wilderness.
Some critics have accused the leaders of the North Carolina Democratic Party—especially Cooper-endorsed chair Bobbie Richardson—of mismanagement and strategic errors.
Richardson and her defenders say her record has been mischaracterized, and she’s being blamed for issues beyond her control.
On February 11, between 500 and 600 party insiders will decide whether to give Richardson a second two-year term. But more than that, they’ll be making a high-stakes bet: whether to stick with Cooper’s political machine or roll the dice on an uncertain course and untested leader.
Someone, for instance, like Anderson Clayton.
Fast-talking and always enthusiastic, Clayton announced her campaign to become the state party’s youngest-ever chair in late December. She’s spent the last month traveling to breweries and county party headquarters across the state, trying to assuage concerns about her youth and inexperience while pitching her workaholic energy as the antidote to an institution adrift.
https://www.theassemblync.com/politics/north-carolina-democratic-party/
