Ending his elections protests, longtime NC Democratic lawmaker concedes defeat to progressive challenger
State Rep. Michael Wray is conceding defeat in the Democratic Party primary, ending a 20-year career in the state legislature, he said in a letter to WRAL Monday.
He won't keep appealing the unofficial results that showed him losing his bid for reelection by only a few dozen votes, after a recount and initial efforts at election protests ended without success for his campaign.
"My supporters have been incredible," Wray said. "They have been there for me from the beginning and stood by my side during this election. While I am disappointed in the result, knowing that I can always count on them gives me great comfort. I don’t know what the future holds for me. However, I do know that I will continue to fight for the people of North Carolina. God has blessed us and we are truly thankful."
The Democrat from Northampton County — one of the last remaining socially conservative Democrats in the state legislature, and one who also sometimes crossed party lines to vote with Republicans on pro-business issues — was defeated in the Democratic primary by a more progressive challenger, Rodney Pierce.
Wray was one of two longtime Democratic lawmakers taken down by challenges from the left in the primary election earlier this month. Durham Sen. Mike Woodard lost to challenger Sophia Chitlik.
In the northeastern North Carolina district Wray has represented for 10 terms, there's no Republican candidate in November. So Pierce is all-but-certain to join the General Assembly next year. "I thank Rep. Wray for his years of service," Pierce said in a written statement. "The people have spoken and it's time to work together to move our district forward."
A middle school social studies teacher, Pierce added in an interview Monday that his students have spent the past few weeks getting a real-life civics lesson on the primary and then the post-election saga of legal challenges, recounts and more.
He said he ran for office in large part to support public schools like the one where he teaches, and to inspire the younger generation to be civically involved when they grow up.
"One day they’ll be able to look back at this and say 'My teacher did this, running for the legislature while he was still working full time,'" Pierce said. "That shows what you can do. And maybe one day one, of them will take up the mantle.”
The contest between Pierceand Wray was fierce; a lawyer for Wray said he was disappointed by some Pierce supporters who framed Wray's elections challenges as a Donald Trump-esque effort to overthrow election results. The only elections protests Wray filed were to try to have more votes counted, he said, not to have any votes thrown out.
"The rhetoric and accusations from some activist organizations were very disappointing," Wray attorney Bruce Thompson said. "The purpose in filing these protests was to ask the [elections] boards to look at ballots we felt should have been counted. We were just protecting the rights of those voters. These protests were very similar to ones we filed for Chief Justice [Cheri] Beasley in trying to protect the rights of voters in 2020."
Wray had filed protests in three counties in the district: Halifax, Northampton and Warren. He had alleged that some legitimate voters may have been wrongfully turned away from the polls, or given the wrong ballot, in addition to other issues. But all three county boards unanimously voted to dismiss his claims. At the same time, recounts and other efforts only narrowed Pierce's lead from 41 to 35 votes — not enough to keep pursuing his challenges, Wray said Monday.
Wray went into the election with significantly more campaign funding than Pierce and also had support from a conservative dark money group tied to Republican leadership, WRAL reported. Pierce relied on statewide progressive and environmental groups, as well as a local network of grassroots support, to pull out his narrow victory.
