Democratic and Republican Party officials face internal backlash after primaries
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- Wake County chair backed challenger; critics sought resignation but delegates kept him.
- NC GOP finance chair is PAC treasurer; Lee County GOP urged his removal via resolution.
- Both parties faced internal backlash and calls for officials to resign after primaries.
After several contentious and expensive primary races across the state, both Republican and Democratic party officials in North Carolina have faced internal backlash and calls to resign.
A local Democratic Party leader and a state Republican Party official were recently scrutinized by delegates to their respective conventions because of endorsements and campaign spending in the primary election.
The Wake County Democratic Party’s chair, Wesley Knott, broke with tradition and publicly supported challenger Nida Allam, a Durham County commissioner, over incumbent U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee in the 4th Congressional District primary.
Allam, an anti-establishment activist, narrowly lost the race to Foushee, who has served two terms in Congress. District 4 includes Orange and Durham and parts of Wake and Chatham counties.
Critics of Knott called for his resignation. But a majority of Wake County Democratic Party convention delegates supported him Saturday in a vote of confidence, essentially voting to keep him as chair.
Knott wrote a letter to Wake delegates before their convention, explaining that he knew getting involved in the race would be “controversial, and I knew it carried risks for my own personal political career.”
“I did not support Nida because I thought it would be popular — I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do,” he wrote.
In a statement, the Wake County Democratic Party said the Republican Party is “fractured.”
Resolution passes in Lee County
In the Republican camp, dissent centers on the NC GOP’s finance chairman, Larry Shaheen, who also serves as a treasurer for a political action committee called NC True Conservatives. The PAC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Senate leader Phil Berger and oppose his challenger, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, in the Republican primary.
Berger, the state’s most powerful lawmaker, has requested a partial hand recount after he finished 23 votes shy of Page’s total. Berger previously requested a full machine recount that confirmed the 23-vote deficit.
Lee County GOP delegates on Saturday unanimously passed a resolution that calls on state party chair Jason Simmons to remove Shaheen, citing concerns of conflict of interest.
Shaheen told The News & Observer that his role as finance chairman is to assist the finance director in bringing in donors and helping to fundraise for the party. He said he has never had access to donor records.
A spokesman for the NC GOP said the party was committed to defeating Democrats in November.
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 5:12 PM.
