Jan. 16, 2024

With an N.C. Senate District 41 primary contest seven weeks away, four Mecklenburg Democrats gathered this morning to talk about their backgrounds, their platforms – and the elephant in the room. All Democratic legislative candidates this year face the same issue:

Until they regain their majority in the General Assembly that they lost in 2010, Democrats are backbenchers in a body tightly controlled by Republicans. And in the main, Republican constituencies keep their elected lawmakers focused on rather different objectives than those that Democrats put forward.

The primary ballot includes retired credit union leader and first-time candidate Robert Bruns, plus three candidates unsuccessful in earlier bids for other offices: Democratic activist Kendrick Cunningham; entrepreneur and former Black Political Caucus head Caleb Theodros; and violence prevention activist Lucille Puckett.

During this morning’s session there were calls to focus on issues with bipartisan support. Some in the room, however, contended that such bipartisan focus led voters to oust Democrat Joel Ford from a Senate seat in 2018. And there were calls to increase voter participation, particularly in a heavily Democratic district like Senate 41. The redrawn 41 wanders, but includes much of the westside of Charlotte.

Senate 41 Democratic primary voters have four choices, and the video below might be a good starting point for people to get to know them – what their backgrounds include, what their plans are. Listen and you might also leave with a notion of their likely effectiveness in advocating for an urban district’s needs without being stomped by the elephants.