North Carolina’s Democratic Party is punishing some state legislative candidates by blocking access to a key election resource. The reason: The candidates sided with Republicans in voting to override vetoes from Democratic governors. Reporter Bryan Anderson wrote about it for The Assembly. He joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry.
Marshall Terry: There are four candidates being singled out here. We’ll get to them in a moment. First this resource they’re being denied access to is software called VoteBuilder. What does it do?
Bryan Anderson: It's a voter contact software that Democrats use typically for tracking volunteers, identifying possible donors, developing lists of possible supporters, and helping mobilize and turn those people out. So it's a critical grassroots organizing resource for the party.
Terry: Which Democratic lawmakers is the party denying access to VoteBuilder and why specifically?
Anderson: In Mecklenburg County, Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed. There's also Shelly Willingham, who's a current state lawmaker over in the eastern part of the state, as well as former state Rep. Michael Wray from Northampton County. The reason that all four are sort of being targeted here is because they have voted to override vetoes from Gov. Stein or then-Gov. Roy Cooper.
Terry: How have the candidates responded?
Anderson: So far, Michael Wray is the only one to weigh in on it, to my knowledge. He has said, ‘we'll let the Democrats do their thing. I don't need the party.’ I imagine it will be something of a rallying cry that they use to try and say, ‘Look, the party's coming after me. We’ve got to stand up for our values.’
Terry: How is the Democratic Party framing this decision?
Anderson: They're framing this really as trying to make sure that voters have an elected official who properly represents them. Anderson Clayton, the chair of the state Democratic Party, told me these candidates, by and large, are in very blue districts and they should be representing what the overwhelming majority of voters believe in. So when you have anti-immigration bills, in Clayton's eyes, that Cunningham supports and other matters, that is a sign that they're insufficiently representing the will of the people.
Terry: Have the Democrats done this sort of thing before? And do Republicans do this?
Anderson: The only example that I remember in recent memory is when Gov. Cooper really urged a primary challenge to then-state Sen. Kirk deViere, and that paved the way for now-state Sen. Val Applewhite over in Cumberland County to win that race.
Outside of that, there's not really many recent examples. There's certainly examples of party leaders in both sides being dissatisfied with how members vote, but when you go to the lengths of denying them campaign resources, that's a step we haven't really seen.
Terry: Has Gov. Stein weighed in on this?
Anderson: Stein declined to comment for this story. He has endorsed Rep. Carla Cunningham's opponent, Rodney Sadler. So he clearly would probably side with fewer resources to Carla Cunningham. He's also endorsed Rep. Rodney Pierce over former Rep. Michael Wray. But as for Rep. Nasif Majeed and Shelly Willingham, as of now, Stein hasn't weighed in on either of those races.
Terry: Could this backfire on Democrats? Could Republicans pick up seats because of it? Or could these Democrats be even more inclined to work with Republicans if they win, maybe even pull a Tricia Cotham and switch parties?
Anderson: There's two scenarios where this realistically hurts the Democrats. That would be one, as you just outlined, where you have a Democratic incumbent. Let's say Carla Cunningham loses her primary. Then there's nothing stopping her from either switching parties or voting more with Republicans, which you don't want to see because she's not going to be back at the table in 2027. The other is just reputationally. Nationally, Democrats have come under fire for placating the base too much or being perceived as not ideologically centrist enough. So maybe that turns voters off. But this is a pretty weedsy issue, and I think Democrats are betting that average everyday voters aren't going to care and primary voters are going to like it.
