A slugfest in Cabarrus

Local politics can quite often get nasty and personal.GIF jerry seinfeld comedy seinfeld - animated GIF on GIFER - by Dorilhala But it’s rare when Raleigh has to step in and referee multiple issues under dispute in a local organization.

The Cabarrus County Republican Party is preparing to elect its officers for the next term.  Current county party chairman Abdul Ali is running for reelection while also challenging incumbent Susan Mills for the state party’s vice chairman position. Ali’s reelection to the county chairmanship is being challenged by Brian Echevarria, who narrowly lost a high-profile race for the North Carolina House in November 2022.  Despite coming up short in 2022,  Echevarria has earned quite a bit of respect county- and statewide and is being seriously mentioned as a possible contender for a number of 2024 state-level races.

Echevarria recently summed up his take on the Cabarrus dispute in a Facebook post:

[… ] Looks like Cabarrus County Exec. Committee has become a train wreck. Low voter turnout. Deepest division in recent memory. They caused the loss of our school board to liberal democrats, etc…
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Now they are in full Democrat mode trying to kick out delegates that meet the age, residence, and registration requirements even though the county plan made arrangements for them to participate. It is amazing how quickly they turn on the community. Talk about attacking democracy.
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Will the North Carolina Republican Party stand by and watch as the party is kneecapped going into ’24? This contagion will spread.

Plan says: For those who were unable to attend, (ALMOST 300), the Annual Precinct Meeting, each County Plan of Organization may, (AND THEY DID), provide for a procedure to permit the election of persons to be Delegates and Alternates to the County, District and/or State Convention. Each County Executive Committee is hereby authorized to amend their County Plan of Organization prior, (NOT WEEKS AFTER), to the Annual Precinct Meetings and County Convention for the sole purpose of implementing a procedure to permit the election of persons to be Delegates and Alternates to the County, District and/or State Convention.[…] 
And then there’s THIS.
The NCGOP has stepped in to referee the controversy.  They issued a couple of rulings: