A North Carolina state lawmaker and a former state House member dove headlong into a competitive state House primary, accusing a Democratic former colleague of making racist remarks years earlier.
Democratic state Sen. Graig Meyer of Orange County wrote in a Substack post that when he was a new member of the General Assembly, then-Democratic Rep. Michael Wray approached him after a 2014 political event with President Barack Obama.
“Wray pigeonholed me to tell me to “watch out for the blacks” and a bunch of other gossipy advice about being in the House Democratic Caucus,” Meyer wrote. “I was like… our black President just walked off stage!”
Former Democratic state Rep. Raymond Smith Jr. of Wayne County replied to Meyer’s post to describe an uncomfortable exchange he said he had with Wray in a hallway at the Legislative Building several years ago.
“I think Whites should marry Whites and Blacks should marry Blacks; don’t you?” Smith recalled Wray telling him. “I was immediately astonished.”
Meyer is hosting a fundraiser later this month for state Rep. Rodney Pierce, a Halifax County Democrat who beat Wray in a primary last year and is running against him again. Meyer repeated the allegation in an interview with The Assembly.
Wray denied the allegation in a statement to The Assembly. “Sen. Meyer is letting his imagination run away.” Wray said. “His allegations are complete bullshit. Never happened.”
He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Smith’s account. Meyer and Wray are white; Smith is Black.
“I’m not trying to start or create controversy,” Smith said in an interview with The Assembly. “I just responded to [Meyer’s post] to comment that I had a similar experience.”
Wray represented District 27, a northeastern district in the state House with a sizable Black population. Wray lost to Pierce by the slimmest margin of any legislative primary last year. Wray is now seeking to get back into office, and he will face Pierce again in the March primary.
Pierce, who is Black, said Wray will need to answer to the voters of Halifax, Northampton, and Warren counties.
“Can he please explain to the Black voters of District 27, who make up the majorities in each county, what does he mean by watch out for the Blacks?” Pierce told The Assembly. “That’s a question he needs to answer.”
The Democratic primary between Pierce and Wray will be one of the most significant contests to watch, as the two candidates have a clear ideological divide. In 2024, Wray crossed party lines more than any other Democratic lawmaker, siding with the GOP majority nearly 85% of the time. By comparison, Pierce joined Republicans in 68% of votes this year.
Wray also frequently voted to override vetoes from then-Gov. Roy Cooper, whereas Pierce hasn’t done so at all under Gov. Josh Stein. Pierce and Wray also have taken different approaches on the campaign trail.
On Monday, Wray took the unusual step of publicly urging Republicans in the district to update their registrations so they could back him in the primary. “You can temporarily change your party affiliation to UNAFFILIATED, but you must do so BEFORE FEBRUARY 6TH,” he wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
“Please share with any interested party and spread the word – It all comes down to this!” he added.
Pierce, meanwhile, is campaigning with some of the state’s most liberal Democrats, including Meyer, who is hosting a fundraiser in Chapel Hill on Sunday. Pierce questioned Wray’s campaign strategy of appealing to Republicans in a Democratic primary.
“My opponent has been misleading voters for years,” Pierce said. “He thinks Democratic voters are dumb, which is why they rejected him last time.”