NC Democrats Switch to Unaffiliated, Tensions Rise

0:00It's April 27th, you're listening to Durham News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Cory with the story. Two North Carolina House Democrats just switched their party affiliation to unaffiliated, right as lawmakers kicked off the short session in Raleigh. Reps, Carla Cunningham and Naseef Majeed from Mecklenburg County both lost their Democratic primaries last month, and they made the change within days, of each other. These moves stemmed from their votes to override vetoes by Governor Josh Stein on several bills, which drew heavy fire from party leaders. Majeed said the Democrats left him, not the other way around, after they targeted him in the primary. Cunningham put it as choosing to serve her people over party loyalty. Other Democrats like Rep. Alston say nothing really changes since these two have always voted their values and the party's strategy stays. The same on vetoes and crises. Reps are cheering it, though, calling themselves the Big Ten party that welcomes independent thinkers, especially with midterms coming up.

1:01Experts point out this echoes last year's switch by Rep, Trisha Cotham to the GOP, but crossing party lines is getting rarer in a polarized setup. By partisanship mostly happens on non-controversial stuff now. As the short session rolls on, these shifts spotlight the tensions, but Democrats seem set to keep pushing their agenda without looking back.