Carla Cunningham’s immigration speech ‘disgraced’ office, NC Democratic group says
Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome. I’m Sophia Bailly.
First up, Avi Bajpai has an update on the backlash a Charlotte Democrat has received after her vote and speech on a Republican immigration bill last week.
Young Democrats tell Cunningham ‘you will be held accountable’
Rep. Carla Cunningham’s fiery speech about immigration on the House floor last week continues to draw major pushback from fellow Democrats, and hints of appetite within some corners of the party for a primary challenge.
The Young Democrats of North Carolina, the official youth arm of the state party, joined the chorus of intra-party voices condemning Cunningham’s remarks, saying in a statement on Thursday that the seven-term Charlotte lawmaker “disgraced her office with a hate-filled speech attacking the very immigrant communities she was elected to serve.”
Like other critics, YDNC took aim at Cunningham’s comment during her speech that “all cultures are not equal,” saying that such thinking “is completely disqualifying and has no place in our party.”
Cunningham made her remarks before casting the deciding vote that helped Republicans override Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of an immigration enforcement bill.
YDNC has been highly critical of Cunningham and other swing-voting Democrats who voted for recent GOP budgets and other legislation. In December 2023, the group endorsed primary challengers to two House Democrats: Rep. Cecil Brockman, who narrowly survived a tough primary fight, and former Rep. Michael Wray, who narrowly lost his reelection bid. (Wray is now seeking to return to the House in 2026.)
“We are better because of the immigrant communities who call our country, state and cities home,” YDNC said on Thursday.
Notably, YDNC said Cunningham’s constituents “deserve better than a representative who rejects this ideal and dehumanizes their neighbors on the House floor.”
YDNC said Cunningham’s “override vote was shameful” and said her “words were abhorrent.
“And you will be held accountable by your community,” the group said. “Good luck.”
Cunningham’s speech, which we reported on last week, covered a lot. Among other things, Cunningham said immigrants coming to America “must assimilate” and “adapt to the culture of the country they wish to live in.” She also said the United States “has been more tolerant than most other countries” and has been “exploited and abused by the different tactics to gain citizenship in America.”
“Global migration in the past was not projected to be as it is today,” Cunningham said. “We must establish new rules to address a distinct type of migration that we are facing in our country, states, and cities. It’s time to turn the conveyor belt off and adopt a global migration suitable for the times that we’re in, and that is not destabilizing to our communities.”
Cunningham declined to comment any further on her remarks when asked by The News & Observer after last week’s vote.
Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Chair Wesley Harris, a former lawmaker who until last year served in the House with Cunningham, told WFAE he’s received calls from Democrats across the state who want the party to help put up a primary challenger to Cunningham.
Harris told WFAE that he can’t weigh in during primaries.
“I don’t get to pick who is a Democrat and who isn’t,” Harris told WFAE. “And any challenge has to come from their district.”
— Avi Bajpai
Stein against splitting DMV off into standalone agency
Gov. Josh Stein said Tuesday he disagrees with one of Auditor Dave Boliek’s main recommendations for fixing the Division of Motor Vehicles: splitting off the agency from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
However, Stein added that when looking at the “big picture” of the nearly 600-page full review produced by Boliek’s office, he and Joey Hopkins, secretary of NCDOT, and Paul Tine, the DMV commissioner, are “in agreement with almost all of it.”
“And so, the fact that we may have a difference with the auditor on that one piece, on the governance piece, isn’t a big surprise,” Stein told reporters after a Council of State meeting.
Stein said there needs to be a “whole-of-government approach and commitment to fixing the DMV.” He praised lawmakers for allocating funding for more staff at the DMV in the stopgap budget bill they sent him last week, which he said on Tuesday he will sign, as he urged GOP leaders to pass a full budget.
“We need more people. We also need to improve our policies. The auditor identified some solutions, we’ve already been implementing many of those on our own,” Stein said. “We need a long term strategic plan so that we can get this agency to the level of service that the people of North Carolina deserve.”
— Avi Bajpai
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
- PBS North Carolina is offering voluntary separation to most full-time employees about a month after U.S. Congress approved a recissions package that removed federal funding for public media. The N&O’s Renee Umsted reports the offer comes as the TV station prepares for staff reductions — and it would likely help avoid involuntary terminations. The announcement follows the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Aug. 1 announcement that it would be shutting down after 60 years of service and support to public media across the country.
- “The Kite Runner” — a regular across the nation’s banned book shelves – is safe to stay in Wake County schools after a school board declined to proceed with a parent’s request to have the book removed from public schools. The N&O’s K-12 education reporter, T. Keung Hui, has been covering the book debate. The award-winning book by Khaled Hosseini addresses adult topics in a story centered around a young boy growing up in war-torn Afghanistan.
Today’s newsletter was by Sophia Bailly and Avi Bajpai. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
