Three takeaways from North Carolina’s 2026 primary results | Opinion
More election opinion coverage: Our Takes on Phil Berger’s stunning result and Michael Whatley’s rough road ahead after Tuesday.
Democratic judges don’t much like to talk about partisan politics even when they’re running in partisan races. Perhaps not coincidentally, Democrats have lost majorities on North Carolina’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court to Republicans who are less inhibited about embracing their party.
James Whalen wanted to change that. The dynamic Raleigh attorney, running in the Democratic primary for seat 3 on the N.C. Court of Appeals, is best known for his role in helping Allison Riggs win her contested N.C. Supreme Court case last year against Jefferson Griffin. Whalen’s campaign message was decidedly political: he was the strongest candidate to beat extreme Republicans, not only in his race but as a template for future Democratic judicial candidates. To beat Republicans, he said, Democratic judges needed to be more like their opponents.
Voters rejected that premise Tuesday, handing a convincing victory to Christine Walczyk, a long-serving and respected Wake County district judge. Cynics might say that Democratic voters don’t get what it takes to win back majorities on critical North Carolina courts, and it’s true that Whalen might have been the better candidate in this fall’s general election. But we’re heartened that Democratic voters valued the things they should about the judges they want on the bench. We hope all voters do the same in the fall.
Punishing wayward Democrats
Democrats did resemble Republicans in at least one way Tuesday: they punished incumbents who strayed. In three N.C. House primaries, Democratic lawmakers who voted with Republicans to override Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes were handed big losses.
Two of those were from Mecklenburg: Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, who lost by 48 and 42 percentage points, respectively, according to unofficial results. Rep. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe also lost in a narrower race.
To be sure, Cunningham was hurt as much by her regrettable remarks on immigrants that followed her veto override vote, and Majeed’s override alienated the LGBTQ+ vote in his Mecklenburg district. But their losses also reflected the heightened intensity of Democratic voters in North Carolina and nationally. They’re angry and motivated in 2026.
How did Garry McFadden win?
Garry McFadden has been Mecklenburg’s most beleaguered office holder in recent memory, maybe ever. His department is, at best, a mess — with toxic leadership, employee departures and, worst of all, 21 deaths in the Mecklenburg County jail since he took office in 2018.
But on Tuesday, McFadden eked out a win to serve another four years. How did he do it?
First, he got the endorsement of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s influential Black Political Caucus. Only one BPC-endorsed candidate, Nasif Majeed in N.C. House District 99, didn’t win in Mecklenburg County. (Longtime Mecklenburg commissioner Vilma Leake, who didn’t get the BPC’s nod, lost her District 2 primary.)
Also, McFadden was the beneficiary of facing not one, but two strong opponents in Rodney Collins and Ricky Robbins, who essentially split the substantial non-McFadden vote. That allowed the sheriff to win despite getting just a third of the overall vote.
We hope the poor showing sends a message to McFadden. Mecklenburg deserves better than the sheriff it’s had.
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 5:05 AM.