NC Rep. Cunningham Leaves Democratic Party

By Cash Michaels –

The Mecklenburg County Republican Party has issued a statement supporting former Democratic Rep. Carla Cunningham’s decision to leave the Democratic Party after losing in the March primary.

Cunningham, 64, was defeated decisively March 3, 2026 by Rev. Rodney Sadler in a three-candidate Democratic primary for the District 106 NC House seat. She won only 22% of the vote, with Sandler taking 70% and a third candidate, Vemanno Bowman, 8%.

Gov. Josh Stein and the NC Democratic Party decided to support Rev. Sadler after Cunningham had frequently voted with House Republicans. Her track record included her deciding vote to override Stein’s veto of a bill requiring NC sheriffs to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities to arrest and remove immigrants. Without her vote, Stein’s veto would have held.

Cunningham had also delivered what many considered to be a fiery and insensitive “all cultures are not equal” floor speech against undocumented immigrants last year. There was considerable community outrage after those remarks, causing the influential Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg not to endorse her for reelection.

Cunningham’s Statement

On April 24, Rep. Cunningham—who will remain in office until next December to serve the rest of her seventh term—released a statement about her party switch that read, in part: “After four years of growing misalignment with party leadership and following her historic vote for the state budget that triggered Medicaid Expansion into law, Representative Cunningham has chosen to place the people above the party.”

Cunningham continued, “I have been a Democrat all my life, but I came to realize that I want to serve the people, not a party. Being an independent thinker does not align with party politics, and I will never compromise the needs of my constituents to satisfy a political agenda.”

Rep. Cunningham’s statement blamed “a troubling wave of hostility from individuals outside of District 106, fueled by the actions of the NC Governor and the North Carolina Democratic Party. … It is clear that my values as a Black woman no longer align with their agenda. I have my family’s full support, and I move forward with absolute conviction.”

She continued, “We have a moral obligation to place the needs of struggling Americans above all competing agendas, including policies that would extend the resources and protections of this government to those who have entered this country unlawfully, at the expense of citizens who have long been underserved … and I will always stand on the side of the people.”

GOP Praises Move

Though Rep. Cunningham did not join the Republican Party, local chairman Kyle Kirby wrote, “The Mecklenburg County Republican Party expresses its strong support for Carla Cunningham and her courageous decision to change her party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated.… We are confident that she will fulfill the remainder of her term with dignity, independent judgment and a continued focus on the people of Mecklenburg County.”

As an unaffiliated state representative, Cunningham is now free to caucus with either the Republican House majority or the Democratic House minority.

Second Democrat Switches After Constituents Reject Him

Cunningham is the third Mecklenburg County Democrat to leave the party since 2023, when Rep. Tricia Cotham left to join the NC Republican Party. Rep. Nasif Majeed, representing District 99 in northeast Charlotte, announced in April that he, too, had switched his party registration from Democratic to unaffiliated. Majeed had served four terms but, like Cunningham, lost his March primary race, gaining only 26% of the vote against challenger Veleria Levy’s 69%. In a statement after his decisive loss, Rep. Majeed said his switch was a matter of “principle, transparency and accountability.”

Ironically, Majeed first joined the House after defeating the previous incumbent, Rodney Moore, in the four-way 2018 primary, winning 57% of the Democratic vote to only 16.7% for Moore. That year two other candidates split the remaining 26%.