Nooze Hounds: Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Chair Drew Kromer
Episode 74
On episode 74 of the Nooze Hounds podcast, Ryans speaks to newly elected Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Chair Drew Kromer, who succeeded former chair Jane Whitley to become the new leader of the local party during elections on Saturday, April 22.
The 26-year-old Kromer succeeded Jane Whitley, who announced she would not seek reelection after serving three terms (six years) as chair. Kromer beat opponent Braxton Becoats, 28, with 78% of the vote during Saturday’s vote, which consisted of nearly 350 voting delegates representing Mecklenburg County’s 195 precincts.
Just days after the election, Ryan talked to the Davidson graduate about his time at Davidson; following the lead of Anderson Clayton, the newly elected 25-year-old Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party; where he differs from Becoats compared to what he learned from his opponent’s campaign; and what he thinks the party can learn from Tricia Cotham’s defection.
Learn more: Democrats React to Tricia Cotham’s Decision to Switch Parties
Among Kromer’s top priorities is what appears to be a certain apathy among Democratic voters in Mecklenburg County, who saw only a 44% turnout in the 2022 elections, much lower than comparable areas such as Wake County.
Kromer believes much of it has to do with complacency, as liberal voters in Charlotte feel comfortable in knowing that Democrats will win local races so are not apt to show up for non-presidential elections, which he said leads to disappointing losses such as that of Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Learn more: OPINION: Mecklenburg County Democrats Owe Cheri Beasley an Apology
Remember you can catch Nooze Hounds on Spotify and other places where you find podcasts and be sure to check out Queen City Podcast Network for a slew of other great Charlotte podcasts that aren’t quite as good as ours but pretty damn close. Find past Nooze Hounds episodes here.
This work by Queen City Nerve is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
