Person County native Anderson Clayton was recently elected as chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.
Kate Medley
State Democrats opted for change at Saturday’s semi-annual State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting, electing Person County native Anderson Clayton to serve as state party chair.
Clayton, 25, is the youngest North Carolina Democratic Party chair to be elected and youngest active state party chair nationwide.
Clayton unseated incumbent chair Bobbie Richardson, a former state House representative from Franklin County who became the state Democratic Party’s first Black chair in 2021.
Richardson entered Saturday’s election with the endorsements of the state’s highest ranking Democrats – Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein.
Also on the ballot for party chair was Brunswick County chair Eric Terashima and LeVon Barnes, a precinct chair and party official from Mebane.
According to reporting by the Raleigh News and Observer, Clayton led the first ballot with 46 percent of the vote.
After Terashima and Barnes dropped out and endorsed Richardson, Clayton won the second ballot 55 to 45 percent (272-243).
“We won on the second ballot and I was shocked because I just didn’t expect that to happen,” Clayton told The Courier-Times. “I’ve had a great time meeting with Attorney General Stein and I’ve talked with Governor Cooper and I’m really excited to bring a united vision for this party forward that involves reaching every county in North Carolina and bringing a boots-on-the-ground energy going forward. I’m excited to get to work. I think we have real momentum here with exciting young people and bringing people back to the party who haven’t been [involved] for a while.”
Clayton said she heard of someone registering as a Democrat after the party elected its new leadership because they saw themselves in the party again.
“I know that is just one thread that you read, but it’s happening everywhere,” Clayton said. “People all over are telling me that they have new people excited to join their county parties and get involved.”
The next step for Clayton is continuing to meet with state party leaders and elected officials before looking forward to the coming year, she said.
“We are organizing precincts right now and Person County is going through a precinct organization soon and starting to reenergize our party from the ground up,” Clayton said. “I’m really excited to be a part of that and leading the effort now. Then we’re fundraising for 2023 municipal races and ensuring that we have support for candidates.”
Clayton’s term will run for two years and expire in 2025.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.