Cheers to the chair

Anderson Clayton might not have made the wave, but she helped make it bigger and broader in North Carolina.

North Carolina was the epicenter of the blue tsunami that hit US shores this election cycle. One news article broke down the Congressional landslide using subtitles like “Shockers,” “Upper Midwest,” and “Southwest,” but “North Carolina” had a title of its own. We flipped our Congressional delegation from 10-4 Republican to 10-4 Democrat, and there’s a possibility that it could be 11-3.

There are a lot of reasons for the size of the Democratic victory, but in North Carolina, a lot of credit needs to go to Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. She built an operation made for a year like this one. She got people engaged across the state. She renewed the focus on rural counties after complaining that they had been ignored for too long. She recruited candidates for as many seats as possible so that in the event of a wave election, Democrats could maximize victories. When that wave hit this year, it crested higher in North Carolina, in part, because we had an operation and organization pushing it.

It’s hard to measure the impact of enthusiasm, but Democrats across North Carolina had it. Anderson Clayton was the happy warrior leading them. She gave shoutouts to down-ballot candidates in small counties during national interviews. She cheered on county chairs and precinct leaders. She gave a face to the rank and file of the party who put their elbow grease into making the party work.

I heard less sniping and griping in party circles than I’ve heard in years. Democrats are notorious for intra-party battles, but they’ve been tamped down for the time being. Clayton gets credit for that.

She wasn’t the only force expanding the height and breadth of the wave. Grassroots organizations like Down Home NC, the New Rural Project, FlipNC, AdvanceNC, and numerous other operations pushed the boundaries to give candidates up and down the ballot the margins to win. But Clayton was their champion, pushing them along and recognizing their work in what are usually thankless jobs.

Clayton is the best state party chair in the country and the hardest working. A lot of people in her position would have checked out in the wake of an election like this, but she doesn’t seem to have slowed down. She’s still thanking local Democratic Party leaders for their hard work and inviting people to share in the celebration. She’s building the type of organization that attracts people.

So thanks, Anderson. November 3, 2026, will be studied for years. In North Carolina, we would have won anyway, but with the operation Anderson is leading, we won bigger than most places around the country. Keep up the good work.