Turnout in North Carolina’s Super Tuesday primary was down from 2020. Perhaps that’s due to no contested Democratic primary this year, as well as Donald Trump having essentially sewn up the Republican nomination in 2024.
But Mecklenburg County stands out for its particularly lackluster showing for Democrats. Just under 19% of registered voters cast ballots here.
WFAE’s “All Things Considered” host Nick de la Canal spoke with political reporter Steve Harrison about what’s driving the low turnout.
Nick de la Canal: Nineteen percent turnout. How does that compare with the rest of North Carolina?
Steve Harrison: Nick, I did a scan this morning of the turnout in all 100 North Carolina counties. Only three had lower turnout than Meck — Cumberland, Onslow and Hoke, which are either home to or next to some of the state’s largest military bases.
De la Canal: So 97th out of 100?
Harrison: That’s right. Now, to be fair, there was no contested Democratic primary at the presidential level and Democratic voters make up 41% of all voters in Mecklenburg. So that’s going to push turnout lower than in Republican counties where people were more excited to vote for Donald Trump or Nikki Haley. But … this is a big but: You still have other urban counties that have lots of Democrats, and they had many more people turnout yesterday.
Buncombe County, home to Asheville, was nearly 29%. Durham County was 27%. Wake County — 25%. Guilford County — 24%.
And just one more thing … there were plenty of Democrats from the Charlotte area who ran statewide including Jeff Jackson for attorney general and Rachel Hunt for lieutenant governor. So there were local candidates to vote for.
De la Canal: OK, now, the primary is just the primary. It’s not the general elections, but still what does this mean for November?
Harrison: So, if the turnout rebounds in the fall, then none of this matters. But in recent years, it hasn’t. In the 2022 U.S. Senate race between Cheri Beasley and Republican Ted Budd, only seven counties had a lower turnout than Mecklenburg. I asked Western Carolina political science professor Chris Cooper about all of this.
Chris Cooper: It doesn’t mean the Democrats are doomed it just means that there are some yellow lights flashing. They’re flashing right over Mecklenburg County.
De la Canal: So, what are some theories as to why Mecklenburg consistently lags other urban counties in the state?
Harrison: I have talked to a lot of different people about this, and people have very different ideas. One is that we are three hours from Raleigh, and people here just don’t pay attention to state politics much. The Charlotte media cover politics much less than Raleigh media. Our population is very diverse, with a large African American population and lots of immigrants — and voter participation for those groups has often lagged that of white voters. That could be it, but then again, that also describes Durham County as well, and turnout was much higher there. We are a very transient — lots of people moving in and out. But that’s also true for a lot of other cities. No one really knows.
De la Canal: OK, so what are Democrats doing about this?
Harrison: The state Democratic Party’s new chair, Anderson Clayton, won the job last year after the party’s disappointing showing two years ago. And she’s mostly talked about reaching rural voters. She’s made less of an emphasis on fixing Mecklenburg County. Jane Whitley was the longtime Democratic Party chair until last year — she tried for a long time to get more resources.
She was replaced by Drew Kromer, who has been chair for a year. He’s had some successes, like running a big turnout operation in Huntersville in November to flip that town board from red to blue. He’s hired some full-time staff. But Mecklenburg County has 1.1 million people and more than 240 precincts. This job is just a lot bigger than one person.
De la Canal: What about the Biden campaign? Is there any kind of outreach there?
Harrison: They have said they are going to invest heavily in North Carolina, perhaps on the level that Obama did in 2008. They’ve already hired senior staff. That’s a good sign for Democrats. I think the question is: Do they continue to expand if they are still behind in the polls — or do they retreat and play defense in places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Michigan, which is what they did in the midterms two years ago.
