The Feds Targeted Charlotte. Now a Local Democrat Who Helped ICE Faces Voters.

[In It to Win It]

https://boltsmag.org/north-carolina-2026-primary-immigration-policy/

Last July, North Carolina state Representative Carla Cunningham, a seven-term Democratic lawmaker from Mecklenburg County, startled party members when she stood on the state House floor and said “all cultures are not equal” and suggested immigrants “must assimilate” and “adapt to the culture of the country they wish to live in.”

Cunningham’s floor speech came after she cast the lone Democratic vote to override North Carolina Governor Josh Stein’s veto of a Republican-backed bill forcing local law enforcement agencies to work more closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The override succeeded thanks to her crossover vote. Cunningham, whose safely Democratic district includes part of Charlotte, a city that has been singled-out by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, had already voted in 2024 to override the veto of another bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE.

“At the end of the day, she didn’t sound any better than some of these ultra-conservative people who were demeaning Black and Brown folk on a regular basis,” said Rev. Rodney Sadler, a Bible scholar and longtime community activist in Charlotte. “It felt like a betrayal of the utmost.”

Cunningham’s comments proved so problematic for Sadler that he said he realized that she was “no longer worthy of being our representative” and he had to run against her. “It drove me to a point of saying, ‘She needs to go, and she needs to go now,’” the 58-year-old pastor, who works at Charlotte’s Union Presbyterian Seminary, told Bolts.

NEW: When North Carolina's GOP wanted to pass a bill last year to require that local governments comply with ICE, they were one vote down.

A Democratic lawmaker gave that decisive vote—as she has on other GOP bills.

Now, she faces a primary challenge from a progressive activist... in 14 days.

— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T14:54:16.316Z

This lawmaker, Cunningham, didn't just vote in favor of the pro-ICE bill. She also explained her vote on the floor of the House to say that "all cultures are not equal."

She now faces a pastor, Sadler, who has been active in the Moral Monday's movement in North Carolina.

— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T14:58:30.339Z