Mecklenburg County Democratic Party

The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party (Meck Dems) is the largest Democratic Party in North Carolina with 322,505 registered Democrats. Meck Dems is the Mecklenburg affiliate of the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Court Arcade, located in Charlotte.

Mecklenburg is the key to Democrats winning at the state and federal levels. Despite winning a number of local races, Mecklenburg's turnout levels have lagged behind the statewide average, hindering Democratic chances at winning statewide elections. In 2022, Mecklenburg's Democratic turnout was 45% compared to a statewide average of 51% and Wake County’s 58% turnout.

The Party controls all nine seats on the Mecklenburg County Commission and nine of the eleven seats on the Charlotte City Council, as well as the Charlotte mayoral seat.

Leadership
The county party chair is Drew Kromer, who was elected in 2023. The Chair leads the County Executive Committee (the "CEC"), a body of more than 350 Democratic Party leaders and activists from across the county, which governs the Party.

The Executive Director is Julia Buckner.

2024
On April 4, 2024, Vice President Harris visited the Meck Dems Party HQ to officially announce the opening of the first campaign field office in North Carolina. Mecklenburg County is emerging as the key county for Democratic chances of flipping the state blue in 2024.

2023
On April 5, 2023, Mecklenburg state legislator Tricia Cotham announced that she had left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party. Cotham's move gave House Republicans a veto-proof majority that allowed them to pass legislation without negotiating with North Carolina's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper. Cotham stated that fellow Democrats had criticized her on Twitter, called her names, and had been "coming after [her] family, coming after [her] children".

Mecklenburg Democrats scored multiple victories in the 2023 general elections, including successfully flipping the entire Huntersville Town Board from red to blue and replacing incumbent mayor Melinda Bales with Christy Clark  following a heated campaign. In addition, all three At-Large School Board candidates backed by Meck Dems in the non-partisan race were elected.