Democratic delegates played an outsized role this campaign season. Who represents NC?

Delegates from North Carolina to the Democratic National Convention played an outsized role this year in choosing the party’s presidential nominee.

Since the 1970s, a state’s primary helped dictate whom a delegate would vote for during the national party’s convention.

When North Carolina’s Democrats voted in this year’s primary, their options were for President Joe Biden or “no preference.” And 87.3% of the state’s voters selected Biden.

But the president ended his campaign on July 21, after a poor debate performance against his opponent, former President Donald Trump, and several weeks of his own party leaders asking him to step aside.

That left the Democrats looking for a new nominee after most states had already held their primaries.

Biden immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, his running mate, to succeed him atop the ticket. Democrats quickly rallied around her, including North Carolina’s delegates to DNC. They were among the first to announce they would fully back Harris, and other states quickly followed.

“Tonight, all 168 delegates of the North Carolina Democratic Party made history,” Anderson Clayton, the state party chair, wrote on social media on July 21, after a conference call with the delegates. “Our delegates voted unanimously to endorse and put our party’s full support behind the nomination of @KamalaHarris to be the President of the United States. I’m proud of our party.”

When the national party took a virtual roll call vote, which began Aug. 1, Harris clinched the 1,976 votes she needed immediately. By the night of Aug. 5, when Democrats made it official that Harris was the party’s nominee, she had secured 4,567 of the delegates’ votes — 99%.

The official nomination needed to be made by Aug. 7, to ensure that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, were included on Ohio’s ballot. Ohio requires that nominees be declared 90 days prior to the election.

According to party rules, provided to McClatchy, the Democratic National Committee will hold ceremonial and celebratory roll call votes at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the week of Aug. 19.

According to the North Carolina Democratic Party’s selection plan, the party has 130 voting members made up of the 76 delegates representing the state’s 14 congressional districts, 25 at-large delegates, 15 pledged party leader and elected official delegates, 10 alternates and 14 automatic delegates that include DNC members, Democratic members of Congress and the governor.

Two additional automatic delegates were added after the North Carolina plan was finalized because DNC added members to its board from North Carolina. That brings the total number to 132 delegates.

DNC reported to CBS News that 131 delegates from North Carolina voted for Harris. Hillsborough Town Councilman Matt Hughes, a DNC member, said he spoke with the delegate who did not cast a vote and learned that delegate was unable to due to internet connection problems in the mountains.

The party’s selection plan also stresses the importance of choosing an equal number of men and women, and including North Carolina’s nonbinary community, and members of the Black, Hispanic Native American, AAPI, LGBTQ+ populations, people under 35 and over 65, as well as veterans and people with disabilities.

Democrats met that goal with delegates from a diverse background that included a variety of ages, races and genders and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Their careers range from recent high school graduates to educators to doctors to politicians.

Here is who will represent North Carolina’s Democrats at the Democratic National Convention:

Elected officials

• Gov. Roy Cooper
• U.S. Rep. Don Davis
• U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross
• U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee
• U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning
• U.S. Rep. Alma Adams
• U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel
• U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson
• Anita Earls, Supreme Court justice
• Jessica Holmes, auditor
• House Minority Leader Robert Reives
• State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri
• State Sen. Julie Mayfield
• State Sen. Paul Lowe
• State Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams
• State Rep. Pricey Harrison
• State Rep. Renèe Price
• State Rep. Wesley Harris
• State Rep. Maria Cervania
• State Rep. Mary Belk
• Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles
• Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams
• Kinston Mayor Dontario Damario Hardy

• DD Adams, mayor pro-tem, Winston-Salem

• Matt Hughes, Hillsborough commissioner

• Brandon Gray-Hill, Guilford County commissioner
• Ann Floyd Huggins, Pitt County commissioner
• Melvin McLawhorn, Pitt County commissioner
• David Joyner, Wilmington city councilman
• Christopher Suggs, Kinston city councilman
• Terry Mahaffey, Apex city councilman
• JacQuez Johnson, Thomasville city councilman
• Eliazar Posada, Carrboro town councilman

Former elected officials

• Former U.S. Rep. GK Butterfield
• Randy Voller, former mayor of Pittsboro, former N.C. Democratic Party chairman
• Larken Egleston, former Charlotte city councilman, current state director for Jackson

• Nervahna Crew, former Wake County Soil and Water Conservation Commission

Candidates

• Nigel Bristowe, U.S. House, District 9
• Aisha Dew, state House
• LeVon Barnes, state House
• Joanne Rochella Chesley, state House

• Damien Gu, Raleigh city council

• Yvette Townsend-Ingram, Mecklenburg County commissioner-elect

Former candidates

• Sheila Ann Huggins, Durham City Council
• Michael McRae, Rockingham city mayor
• Dylan Moore, Reidsville City Council
• Beverly Jo Bard, High Point City Council

Officials

• Julia Puckett, Lewisville Town Council
• Kennis Wilkins, North Carolina Human Relations Commission
• Rebekah Whilden, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission
• William “Drew” Marsh, legal counsel to N.C. Department of Transportation
• Madison Briana Kilgore, eastern political assistant for Attorney General Josh Stein’s gubernatorial campaign
• Douglas Auer, member of North Carolina Parks & Recreation Authority
• Martin Ericson, Cabarrus County Board of Elections
• Doris Wallace, board member of N.C. League of Conservation Voters
• Justin Cundall, member of the Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission
• Mason Chamblee, sustainable mobility strategist, Raleigh

Staffers

• Allison Kim Perry, communications specialist for N.C. Secretary of State.
• Catherine Mandela Leake, legislative assistant to Rep. Abe Jones
• Grayson Barnette, senior adviser to Anderson Clayton

Democratic officers

• Barbara Faison, president of the National Federation of Democratic Women

• Edward M. Binanay, NCDP AAPI president

• John Verdejo, executive committee member Democratic National Committee

• Abbie Lane, state executive committee member

• Kimberly Hardy, second vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party

• Elijah King, third vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party

• Deniese Chaney, treasurer of the North Carolina Democratic Party

• Cassie Rise, president of the Association of County Chairs

• Tom Sullivan, adviser to Anderson Clayton, state executive member

• Loura E. “Lainey” Edmisten, senior adviser of North Carolina Democratic Party

• Vinod Thomas, statewide adviser for the N.C. Association of Teen Democrats.

• Brenda Pollard, Courtesy Committee of North Carolina Democratic Party
  
  
• Allison Allen, third vice president of the Democratic Women of N.C.
  
  

• Arun Nair, member of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus inaugural adviser commission.

• JonathonTyler Beall, president of the LGBTQ Democrats

• Wesley Boykin, chair of the 3rd Congressional District

• Diana Robinson, chair of the 4th Congressional District

• Lisa Ellsworth, chair of the 14th Congressional District

• Tanya Lewis, chair of the Minority Affairs Committee for North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District

• Rebecca Llewellyn, former chair of the Wake County Democratic Party

• Blue Stout-Pryor, secretary of Young Democrats from Wake County
  
  
• Emerson Kirby, third vice chair of the Durham County Democratic Party
  
  

• Drew Kromer, chair of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party.

• Charles DeLoach, vice president of the Mecklenburg County Young Democrats

• Stephanie Collins-Frempong, first vice chair of Mecklenburg County Democrats

• Emma Kennett, Alamance County Democratic Party secretary
• Mackenzie Reedybacon, chair of the Cabarrus County Democratic Party.
• Yarbrough Williams, chair of the Warren County Democrats
• Diane Lupton Tyndall, president of Democratic Women of Craven County
• Devin Freeman, Durham vice president Young Democrats of North Carolina
• Robert Liu, executive vice president of the North Carolina Association of Teen Democrats
• Meredith C. Bailey, former chair of the Rockingham County Democratic Party
• Cara Pearson, chair of the Robeson County Democratic Party
  
  
• Jill Hopman, chair of the New Hanover County Democratic
• Stephen Strnisha, chair of the Pender County Democratic Party
• Autumn Solomon, first vice chair of the Union County Democratic Party
• Katherine McWilliam, chair of the Democratic Women of Moore County
• Jan Louise Nichols, former chair of Chatham County Democrats
• Betsy Wells, second vice chair of the Cleveland County Democratic Party
• Michael McLamb, chair of the Catawba County Democratic Party
• Diane Snyder, chair of the Cherokee County Democratic Party
• Jesse B. Ross, president of the Haywood County Young Democrats
• Kathie Kline, chair of the Buncombe County Democratic Party
• Kristen Robinson, first vice chair of the Buncombe County
• Ryan Morrice, Mecklenburg County state executive committee
• Tina Rodriguez, treasurer of the Carteret County Democratic Women Board
• Shauna Alami Williams, assistant chairperson for the Warren County Democratic Party
• Gloria Goodwin, past president of the Democratic Women of Onslow County
• Thierry Wernaers, former chair of the Cabarrus County Democratic Party
• Jenny Marshall, chair of the Forsyth County Democratic Party
• Marjorie Jeansonne Reed, member of the Wake County Democratic Party
• John Rost, member of the Carteret County Democratic Party
• Akhil Karandikar, member of the Chatham County Democratic Party
• Gloria Weissman, member of the Chatham County Democratic Party
• Eric Mark Willoughby, member of the Mecklenburg Democratic Party
  
  
• Brian Glenn Holland, member of Wake County Democratic Party

Other

• Diane Robertson, member of Biden’s Advisory Committee on the Arts
• Sebastian Feculak, political coordinator for the International Association of Ironworkers Mid-Atlantic
• Stephanie Woolley Pigues, deputy campaign director Josh Stein
• Cameron Pruette, the director of intersectional initiatives for the Freedom Center for Social Justice
• Richard Kohn, history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill
• Jeffery Scott Marshall, data director for the North Carolina Voter Project
• Heidi Rose Sinsley, attorney
• John Carry Easterling III, lobbyist
• DonnaMarie Woodson, ambassador constituent lead, North Carolina’s 12th District American Cancer Society
• Angela Levine, manager of Red Wine and Blue
• Jamie Lynn Johnson, former campaign treasurer for Vivian Fulk.
• Margie Farmer, educator
• Jennifer Job, consultant for BreakGlass Strategies.
• Kiani A. Gardner, North Carolina State Coordinator for Campus Vote Project
• Michael McIntosh, associate professor, Virginia State University and Fulbright Scholar by the U.S. Department of State.
• Chris Hardee, former regional director to Davis.

In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observer’s focus on accountability reporting.

This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Democratic delegates played an outsized role this campaign season. Who represents NC?."

Danielle Battaglia

McClatchy DC

Danielle Battaglia is the congressional impact reporter for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leading coverage of the impact of North Carolina’s congressional delegation and the White House. Her career has spanned three North Carolina newsrooms where she has covered crime, courts and local, state and national politics. She has won two McClatchy President’s awards and numerous national and state awards for her work.