When looking at which Democratic legislators have voted to override governor vetoes in recent years, the names of two Mecklenburg House members appear often: Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed.
Since 2023, Cunningham has voted to override 15 vetoes from Democratic governors Roy Cooper and Josh Stein, while Majeed has sided with the Republican majority on seven vetoed bills. That track record in one of the bluest areas on the state map has angered the North Carolina Democratic Party — especially since the 2024 election, when Democrats broke the Republicans’ legislative supermajority by one seat and elected Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.
That achievement meant that if all Democrats stuck together on votes, Republicans couldn’t pass a law without Stein’s approval. They would need at least one Democratic veto override vote to execute their agenda.
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At various times, Cunningham and Majeed have given Republicans that vote. So, the North Carolina Democratic Party wants them out. The party is supporting primary challengers to both, in the hopes of securing more loyal soldiers in heavily Democratic districts in Mecklenburg County.
Still, the incumbent representatives have the benefits of name recognition and a foundation of support from donors and community members. Even with party backing and resources, newcomers have little time and an uphill climb to gain voters’ support.
This March, voters will decide whether they’re ready for a change. Their decision will not only influence Charlotte politics, but the political calculus for the entire state.
3-way race in District 106
For a brief moment, Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, appeared on the Zoom screen.
S.Y. Mason-Watson, president of Mecklenburg Democrats’ African American Caucus, had just asked the first question to each of the other legislative candidates participating in the Feb. 1 virtual candidate forum, hosted by AAC and the North Carolina International Minority Coalition.
But she skipped Cunningham, the seven-term incumbent who was also on the call. Several attendees called attention to her presence, but Mason-Watson ignored them. The forum proceeded without Cunningham.
Later, Mason-Watson said not allowing Cunningham to talk was a technical issue, not “intentional exclusion;” she hadn’t RSVPed to the invite, and so the Zoom was not prepared for her to speak. Before being cut off, a Cunningham representative claimed to have evidence to the contrary.
The cold shoulder is not new to Cunningham. The Democratic Party shunned her after a particularly controversial floor speech she made last year while defending her vote on a controversial immigration bill.
The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, or House Bill 318, requires jail officials to verify citizenship status of detainees who are charged with an expanded list of crimes, including impaired driving. Officials must contact federal immigration officials if they can’t determine whether the detainee is a legal resident, and also must hold any detainee who is under an ICE detainer or administrative warrant for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release so federal immigration agents can pick them up.
Cunningham was the only Democrat to vote for the bill, assuring its passage.
“All cultures are not equal,” she said in her floor speech. “Some immigrants come and believe they can function in isolation, refusing to adapt. They have come to our country for many reasons, but I suggest they must assimilate, adapt to the culture of the country they wish to live in. No country is going to allow people to come in and not acknowledge its constitution, legal systems and laws.”
Later, she issued a statement and an apology for her words. In the latter, she said that her emotions were heightened because she had received serious threats leading up to the veto override vote from elected officials and community leaders.
In Mecklenburg race, 2 is company, 3 is a crowd
Rodney Sadler, one of Cunningham’s two primary opponents, said her speech contributed to his intention to run for the seat. Sadler entered the North Carolina General Assembly for the first time in 2013 as part of the Moral Monday movement. That time, he got arrested for protesting. Next time, he wants to be the one helping pass laws.
“I'm running right now because we need a change in leadership, but I'm running long term because there are issues that we need to address in Mecklenburg County,” he said.
Those issues include affordable housing, a living wage for Mecklenburg County residents, greater local control over housing and employment decisions and an equitable, high-quality education for all North Carolina students, he said.
Sadler’s strategy is to lead with a “moral voice.” His faith tells him to “love God, love our neighbor and love the stranger.” If a policy doesn’t do that, then it’s not getting his support.
He believes he can cross rural-urban and party divides by connecting on common issues, like poverty, affordable housing and health care access.
He’s particularly concerned about Cunningham’s connections to Duke Energy, which is based in Mecklenburg County. Last year, Cunningham voted to override Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 266, which removes the public energy utility’s interim 2034 commitment to reach a 70% emission reduction on the way to 2050 carbon neutrality.
Sadler thinks Cunningham has “sold” her vote to get money for pet projects in the district. In the past, Duke Energy’s political action committee has contributed to her campaign.
“I love that she likes to talk about how much money she's brought back to the citizens of our district, but I would hate to think that she's selling us out for pennies on the dollar.”
Vermanno Bowman said he was the first to “ring the alarm bell” about Cunningham’s voting record after her vote for the 2023 budget, which included funding for private school vouchers. He ran against her in 2024, but lost with just 15% of the vote.
Then, people turned a “blind eye” because she was an incumbent, he said. But now, they’re realizing the effects her veto overrides are having on everyday, working-class North Carolinians, Bowman continued.
As a Gen Z candidate, Bowman said people often criticize him as “too young” or “too far left,” but he believes the district deserves a more progressive representative.
Bowman wants to shine a light on the large corporations he says are coming to Charlotte, buying up land and property and raising rents to a level that is pushing working families to the brink.
A three-way race is dangerous for opposition candidates; there’s a high potential they could split the anti-Cunningham vote and give her an easy victory, even if the majority of voters want her out.
Party leaders have responded by putting all their eggs in Sadler’s basket. Stein endorsed Sadler, which Sadler said gave him “momentum” in a tough fight. The Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg followed suit, a critical win in a 49% Black district. The North Carolina Democratic Party Progressive Caucus opted for Sadler over Bowman, too, despite endorsing the latter in 2024.
Bowman, on the other hand, has the support of the University of North Carolina - Charlotte College Democrats and several community organizers.
Cunningham, who did not respond to multiple calls and emails requesting an interview, hasn’t lost all her backers. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, Senate Democrat Dan Blue, D-Wake, and Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, endorsed her.
Robinson highlighted Cunningham’s involvement in getting Medicaid expansion passed in 2023. In candidate forums, Cunningham has said she’s brought $23 million back to the county and negotiated behind the scenes to ensure HCBUs got paid when sports wagering passed.
“If you are aligning with the party 100% of the time, I would dare say you're not servicing your constituents,” she said in a January forum. “You must cross over in order to get anything done, or else you walk out with nothing.”
In the last half of 2025, Cunningham received maximum campaign contributions from the North Carolina Home Builders Association PAC, North Carolina Nurse Anesthetists PAC, North Carolina Nurses PAC, North Carolina Realtors PAC and the Employees Political Action Committee. In all, she raised nearly $50,000 by the end of 2025.
Sadler’s got her beat, at least according to the most recent campaign finance data available. By the end of 2025, he had raised $121,000 from mostly small dollar donors.
“I've been grateful to get all the support we've gotten, because at the end of the day, this is not my campaign. This is our movement to reclaim the politics of North Carolina.”
Majeed vs. Levy
On a recent Wednesday night, Veleria Levy sat at a TGI Fridays in northeastern Charlotte with a handful of campaign supporters and laid out her strategy.
She and Majeed couldn't be more different as Democrats, she said.
“In a district that is bluer than blue, those are the districts that you expect the Democratic values to be followed,” she said. “Those are the districts that you expect to stand with the governor, and he's doing exactly the opposite of that.”
While he hasn’t caught quite as much flack as his fellow Mecklenburg incumbent, Majeed has also sided with Republicans on a number of key votes.
During the 2025 session, he was the only Democrat to vote for House Bill 805, which addresses online sexual exploitation of women and minors, but also recognizes only two genders, allows medical providers to be sued for malpractice up to a decade after conducting gender transition procedures, permits parents to excuse their children from certain classroom discussions on a religious basis and bans use of state funds for gender-affirming procedures or medications for people in jail or prison.
Majeed said people have called him “anti-LGBTQ” after his vote, but emphasized that it wasn’t about that for him — it was about parents having the right to know what’s happening to their minor children.
He also voted for SB266, the Duke Energy bill, and several other bills during the 2023-24 session that the governor vetoed due to environmental concerns. Duke Energy’s political action committee has also supported Majeed in previous campaigns.
With the number of industries coming to Mecklenburg County, combined with the rise of data centers, Majeed said the energy grid will be pushed to a new level. If he hadn’t allowed Duke Energy to renege on their agreement, they’d be in a “pickle,” he said.
Majeed said Duke approached him about the bill.
“They said, ‘Look, give us five years. Let us work,’” he said. “‘And then after 35 we’ll get back on our trajectory, and we won’t miss the 50.’”
Some people think Majeed doesn’t have the right to vote against the governor, he said. He disagrees. He makes the decision he thinks is best for his district and the state, and doesn’t “cower to conformity,” he added.
If reelected, Majeed said he plans to work on addressing rising property taxes, getting more money for affordable housing and redirecting private school voucher funds to other needs.
Levy doesn’t think Majeed spends enough time in his district. Neither does Tucker Neal, who will appear on the ballot but dropped out of the race.
“Nasif Majeed is not a proper representative, and that’s apparent to most of his constituents who do know him, but most of them don’t know him,” Neal said.
Neal was the first to enter the race against Majeed. A recent grad, he was hoping to leverage the youth of the Mecklenburg district — the median age is 29 — to gain momentum against the four-term incumbent.
But after listening to Levy at various campaign forums, he decided two was better than one. He could get the college students to support Levy, while she focused on the broader community.
“Our goal here is to create a more progressive General Assembly and to get Nasif Majeed out,” Neal said.
Levy, a community advocate with experience in the health policy world, hopes she can win Mecklenburg voters over the same way she won over Neal.
Her platform isn’t about just one issue, it’s about how one issue can have a ripple effect on every area of life.
“When wages don't keep up, families struggle with housing and child care, when transportation or internet is unreliable, kids miss school and miss appointments,” she said. “And when schools are drastically underfunded, the impact ripples through the entire neighborhood.”
If elected, she would focus on affordable health care and housing, good-paying jobs, well-maintained infrastructure, manageable energy costs, equitable education and “real” constituent services, she said at a January candidate forum.
Unlike Sadler, Levy didn’t get the governor’s or the Black Political Caucus’ endorsement. She has garnered some support, though, including from the North Carolina Democratic Party Progressive Caucus, Unite Here Local 23, Carolina Forward and Planned Parenthood. As of the end of 2025, she had about $2,500 to Majeed’s $3,500 in campaign contributions.
Meanwhile, Majeed has no plans to switch up his strategy. If he has to work with Republicans to get something done, he will.
“There’s no bill that's going to go through without a Republican on that bill,” he said at a candidate forum. “If it's a bill coming from a Democrat, it's thrown in the garbage can.”
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.