Turnover in NC Democratic Party leadership. 25-year-old defeats incumbent chair.

A 25-year-old activist has ousted an incumbent who had backing from the state’s top party leaders to become the new chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Anderson Clayton, the Person County Democratic Party chair and president of the state party chairs’ association, was elected Saturday to a two-year term as party chair by the N.C. Democratic Party’s Executive Committee. Clayton defeated Bobbie Richardson, 73, a former state lawmaker who had become the N.C. Democratic Party’s first Black chair in 2021.

“We’re ready for someone exciting because that’s what it will take to win statewide elections and do better in places where we’ve lost ground,” Carl Newman, a Durham Democratic leader who voted for Clayton, said in an interview Saturday.

Clayton had campaigned on the need for change following last fall’s Democratic losses in state races. Democrats lost control of the N.C. Supreme Court, were swept in the N.C. Court of Appeals and lost seats in the General Assembly.

But Richardson entered Saturday with the backing of Gov. Roy Cooper, state Attorney General Josh Stein and all seven Democrats in the state’s Congressional delegation. Voters at Saturday’s virtual meeting heard a video from Cooper making a last-minute pitch for Richardson.

“We will move forward because we have to — the stakes are too high,” Richardson tweeted Saturday. “The gavel is now in @abreezeclayton’s hands to unite us & to beat those who are stripping away our freedoms & our rights. I’m honored to have served NC Democrats & we will continue to show up & show out.”

In a show of unity, Cooper and Stein congratulated Clayton on her win. Stein is running for governor in 2024 because Cooper can’t run for another term.

“I look forward to working with her over the next 2 years to elect Democrats up and down the ballot,” Stein tweeted Saturday.

Younger leadership

Eric Terashima, chair of the Brunswick County Democratic Party, and LeVon Barnes, a precinct chair and party official from Mebane, also ran for party chair.

Clayton led in the first ballot with 46% of the vote, according to Newman, with Richardson in second. In the second ballot, Newman said Clayton beat Richardson 55% to 45%.

“Dr. Richardson is a trailblazer and even people like myself who voted against her realize that and appreciate her,” Newman said. “It’s all about winning elections.”

Another party leader, former state Sen. Floyd McKissick Jr., was ousted on Saturday. McKissick, 70, lost his re-election bid for party 1st vice chair to Jonah Garson, 36, an Orange County attorney.

“Our party wanted to have young leadership and look toward young leaders,” state Sen. Mike Woodard, a Durham Democrat, said in an interview Saturday. “We wanted to find people who appealed to young Democrats. While they’re relatively young, they’ve all been engaged in party activity for quite some time.”

Reinvigorating rural voters

Newman said it will be important having a person from a rural part of the state serving as party chair. He said they’re also expecting that Clayton will be a more active party chair.

Before Saturday’s election, Clayton had talked about the need for the Democratic Party to do more in rural areas. Democrats didn’t field candidates in some rural areas in last year’s election.

“I want to make sure that every person has a way to say they are proud to call themselves a Democrat, particularly in rural North Carolina right now,” Clayton said in an interview before the chair election. “I don’t know, I really want our party to be a place for anybody.”

Woodard said the election shows that Democrats are not going to concede rural areas to Republicans.