Tensions within the Wake County Democratic Party (WCDP) over its chair’s unusual endorsement of a congressional primary candidate are coming to a head this week in the form of two separate complaints to the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) calling for his removal.
Back in December, WCDP Chair Wesley Knott personally endorsed Nida Allam over incumbent Valerie Foushee in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, a race that illustrated the split between the more establishment and populist wings of the Democratic Party.
Speaking with the INDY that month, Knott said Foushee exemplifies a “risk-averse” and “carefully-calculated” brand of Democratic politics that has failed to inspire voters. He said Allam “has better ideas and would … help build a progressive movement that is needed within the Democratic Party.”
Knott subsequently appeared in a campaign advertisement for Allam that was critical of Foushee, spoke in support of Allam at a rally headlined by Bernie Sanders, posted about Allam on his personal social media, and authored an op-ed in The Duke Chronicle that praised Allam and suggested Foushee is corrupt. Knott was identified as the local party chair at the rally, in the op-ed, and on his social media account.
In wading into the race, Knott deviated from the tradition of party chairs staying neutral in partisan primaries. The county party itself did not endorse in the race. Allam lost to Foushee by a slim margin earlier this month, but that result hasn’t quelled the discord Knott’s endorsement stirred within the WCDP.
On Monday, John Verdejo, who represents North Carolina on the Democratic National Committee, submitted a petition to the NCDP calling for Knott’s removal as WCDP chair. The INDY obtained a copy of the petition, which argues Knott abused his visibility and authority as chair to unfairly elevate one primary candidate over another. Knott acted “in a manner inconsistent with neutrality, fairness, and the Party’s best interest,” the petition alleges.
Several elected leaders in Wake County including county commissioners, school board members, and city council members offered to sign on to Verdejo’s petition, according to a source familiar with it.
The WCDP’s policy is not to endorse in contested partisan primaries but to throw its support behind the Democratic nominee in the general election. Though Knott endorsed Allam personally, and not on the party’s behalf, the petitioners claim that line is too blurry since he is the party’s face and voice in Wake County.
“When the county chair publicly intervenes in a contested primary … the injury is not merely a matter of political disagreement,” Verdejo’s petition reads. “It diminishes confidence in party governance, weakens trust in internal fairness, and signals that formal party authority may be used selectively rather than impartially.”
Knott pushed back against the petition’s characterization in an interview with the INDY on Wednesday. He stands by his endorsement of Allam and said it didn’t undermine the party—it was an attempt to move it forward.
“I sleep well at night knowing that I did what was right by my values and beliefs,” Knott said. He granted that some people have “fair criticisms” of the specific ways he promoted Allam’s campaign, but he thinks it started a worthwhile conversation about the direction the party is moving.
“To be honest, I welcome the opportunity to have those discussions,” he said. Knott is calling for a vote of confidence in his leadership at this weekend’s WCDP convention. If the vote succeeds, he said he’ll turn his attention to the competitive U.S. Senate, judicial, and state legislative races coming up in November. If it fails, he said he will facilitate the election of a new chair and resign.
Knott’s endorsement of Allam made him an outlier among Wake’s Democratic leaders. Most of the Democratic delegation to the state legislature, several county commissioners, and several school board members, and a handful of mayors and town council members endorsed Foushee. By contrast, only one state representative from Wake and one Apex Town Council member endorsed Allam (though she did earn other endorsements, including from Sanders and several national advocacy groups).
A second petition for Knott’s removal submitted to the NCDP on Wednesday, which the INDY also obtained, makes some of the same arguments as the first and also claims that Knott used WCDP resources—namely, the WCDP email list and his own time as a paid employee of the WCDP—to campaign for Allam.
“Due to the time spent on supporting Allam’s campaign, precinct chairs felt that they did not get the support for the primary election as a whole they needed,” the second petition reads. “Candidates and elected officials who did not support Allam have expressed significant concern that they will not be able to count on WCDP support in retaliation, or that perhaps Chair Knott will have another candidate he doubles down on and won’t give proper attention to preparing for general [get out the vote] work.”
Knott said he is a “human being with agency” who spends more than 40 hours per week on his WCDP chair job and supported Allam in his personal time.
“I don’t think there is anyone that is involved at any meaningful level in this organization that would question the time and dedication I put into building this party,” he said. “I appreciate that there are some people that don’t like the way I’m using [my] influence, but there’s nothing in our … governing documents that prohibits me from doing anything that I’ve done.”
Signatories to the second petition include Wake County school board member Jennifer Job, Holly Springs Town Councilmember Annie Drees, and former WCDP First Vice Chair Camille Kauer.
The second petition also blames Knott for omissions in the WCDP’s primary voter guide, which did not list several registered Democrats running for U.S. Senate, Wake County Commission, and Raleigh City Council seats—including, as the petitioners pointed out, several Black candidates.
Knott said candidates who did not have a campaign finance committee, two forms of social media, and a website were left off the guide. “We did not consider any specific candidate or type of candidate when we made that administrative decision,” he said.
Kauer, one of the signatories to the second petition, resigned from her volunteer leadership position in the WCDP in late February. Kauer told the INDY she was offended by Allam’s use of a racial slur in a 2014 tweet that resurfaced in February and disappointed by Knott’s public criticism of Foushee, a progressive Democrat with decades of experience in public service.
In a Facebook post announcing her resignation that has since been removed, Kauer wrote, “Witnessing coordinated efforts to undermine and take down a Black woman official, I no longer have the hope or strength to pretend this aligns with the ideals I once fought for.”
Knott was elected chair of the WCDP in April 2025 after previously serving as deputy organizing director and executive director. A progressive millennial from rural Mississippi, he vowed to infuse the county party with fresh energy and ramp up door-knocking and voter engagement ahead of that year’s municipal elections.
Speaking with the INDY soon after starting his new job, Knott confidently declared that Democrats would sweep elections in Wake County in 2025. “We have 34 municipal elections this fall, and I plan to win all of them,” he asserted. He came very close: Democrats won all but one Wake County election that November. Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs, the two reddest towns in the county, ousted incumbent Republican mayors in favor of Democratic challengers. Cary voters replaced their two most conservative town council members with Democratic newcomers.
Knott is betting that the petitions aren’t representative of the wider WCDP’s feelings about him; he says he has the support of most of the party’s area coordinators and executive committee members. On Tuesday, he sent the delegates to the upcoming county convention a nine-page letter explaining his reasoning for the Allam endorsement.
“I believe in a Democratic Party that welcomes debate and change, including in our primaries,” Knott’s letter reads. “A healthy Party creates space for new leaders with new ideas to emerge, and it gives those leaders a fair fight in their primaries. Then, following that rigorous debate, accepts the primary results and moves forward in unity.”
In December, when Knott initially spoke to the INDY about his endorsement of Allam, he acknowledged there could be a downside.
“I think the riskiest consequence of my decision to make a public endorsement for Nida is how future chairs leverage that power,” he said.
“I’m not trying to be a kingmaker or an activist. When I ran for chair, I told people I was a progressive. I told them what my political views were. They have seen me, in my first year, continue what I did as executive director for the past few years, which is organize and educate and mobilize voters to help elect Democrats. … I’m focused on that work. But if I can take an hour of my time to stop by and support a progressive candidate in a really important district, I think that’s a good investment, not just because it’s what I believe personally, but I think it’s a good investment of my time for the Democratic Party and for the people that I hear from every day that want a different direction.”
The two petitions calling for Knott’s removal were sent to the NCDP’s Council of Review, a special statewide committee. Per the NCDP’s plan of organization, the council will review the petitions, oversee a mediation process between Knott and the complainants, and then may decide to hold a hearing and a vote on Knott’s removal.