When Democrats try to explain why their party has lost every presidential and Senate race in North Carolina since 2008, they often point to an unexpected place: Mecklenburg County, which includes the deep-blue city of Charlotte.
As the largest city in what has become a hotly contested swing state, Charlotte, which has a diverse and rapidly growing population of more than 900,000, should theoretically play a role almost as vital to the Democratic Party as Atlanta or Philadelphia.
Despite laying claim to more registered Democrats than any other county in the state, Mecklenburg has consistently underperformed for the party. In the 2022 midterms, only seven of North Carolina’s 100 counties had a lower voter turnout than Mecklenburg. For the 2020 presidential election, the county’s turnout was two to seven percentage points lower than those of other major Democratic counties in the state, including Wake, which includes Raleigh.
“If those voters punched up to their political weight, then you see a state that shifts from slightly right to slightly left,” Michael Bitzer, an expert on North Carolina politics at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., said of Mecklenburg Democrats.
This year, with both presidential candidates courting North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes, the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party is making a concerted effort to deliver on its potential. Since taking office in April 2023, Drew Kromer, the 27-year-old party chairman, has loudly tried to persuade longtime residents, newcomers and wealthy donors who lean Democratic that their county will be the difference maker.
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