North Carolina Sen. Graig Meyer (D) — who represents Orange, Person and Caswell counties — is set to leave public office.
The District 23 legislator shared on Facebook he will be resigning from the state Senate to accept a role leading the North Carolina Justice Center. His resignation will be effective Mar. 31.
“I have given my all for [the [Orange, Person and Caswell County] communities, and for the State of North Carolina, but of course I haven’t come close to accomplishing all that I had dreamed when I entered the General Assembly back in 2013,” wrote Meyer. “We can and we must do better. For me that means leaving elected office and stepping into a new role. I am deeply humbled and beyond excited to share that I will become the next Executive Director of the North Carolina Justice Center. Ask [my wife] Kym or any of our closest friends and they will tell you that this is the opportunity that I have long hoped would be the next stage of my service to North Carolina.”
Meyer will depart the North Carolina General Assembly after spending more than a dozen years in Raleigh, where he earned a reputation as an outspoken liberal lawmaker. He joined the state House of Representatives in 2013, earning appointment to succeed Valerie Foushee in District 50 that represented northern Orange and Caswell counties. Meyer then left the seat to run for N.C. Senate in 2022 to once again succeed Foushee as she moved from the state government to U.S. Congress. He won election in 2022 with nearly two-thirds of the vote before earning a second term in 2024 over Republican Laura Pichardo. Prior to becoming an elected official, Meyer helped lead the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system for 16 years.
“From his time in the House of Representatives to his service in the North Carolina Senate, Senator Graig Meyer has been a steady public servant and a zealous advocate, not only for the people of Person County and Orange County, but for families across our entire state,” wrote Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch in a statement. “In the Senate chamber, Sen. Meyer has been one of our most vocal messengers, always ready to stand up for North Carolinians, and speak to the truth that everyone deserves a fair shot to build a purposeful life in our great state. While we will miss his partnership and presence in the Senate, we know he will continue advocating for the people of NC in his new role.”
Meyer’s decision comes after he ran unopposed in the 2026 Democratic primary — creating a situation where a replacement option will need to be nominated before the general election in November. North Carolina law requires a vacant state senate seat representing multiple counties to be filled by appointment through Gov. Josh Stein and the district-level executive committee of the political party where the vacancy occurred. For District 23, that would be Democratic Party members in Orange, Caswell and Person counties. Whomever is chosen will face Pichardo, who is running for the state Senate seat again, in November. In his post on Monday, Meyer said he told Democratic leaders he wants to see the seat filled before the legislative short session begins in late April.
Meyer also thanked all of his supporters of his political career, and pledged to use any remaining campaign funds to help other Democrats in their elections. He said he plans to make a donation to the Senate Democratic Caucus, to N.C. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls’ re-election campaign, and to his local county parties.
Because of his background in public education, Meyer made the issue central to many of his campaigns and advocacy in the legislature. In addition to serving on the Education K-12 Committee, he regularly pushed for the state government to use tax surpluses and financial reserves to fund the Leandro Plan and was a critic of expanding the Opportunity Scholarship program to give publicly-funded financial support for private school enrollment. Meyer also used his platform to discuss the frequent lack of bipartisan discussion in the General Assembly when Republican lawmakers operated in a majority, sharing details of dysfunctional budget deliberations and dissolution of coalitions between the two parties amid growing political division.
The North Carolina Justice Center is a statewide nonprofit based in Raleigh whose mission is to aid those negatively impacted by systemic oppression and explore solutions for lasting, equitable change, according to its website. It works through public policy advocacy, but also research on social and economic challenges and taking on “high-impact” lawsuits to low-income, immigrant, and working class community members.
“There is no organization more important than the North Carolina Justice Center in our collective efforts to restore North Carolina to our place as the Beacon of the South,” wrote Meyer. “For more than thirty years, the NC Justice Center has been the state’s most identifiable multi-issue, multi-strategy advocacy organization working to advance economic opportunity, fairness, and justice. The NC Justice Center is a statewide nonprofit that advances policy solutions and community advocacy to expand opportunity and strengthen communities across North Carolina.
“Over the next decade,” he concluded, “I believe that the NC Justice Center must be one of the core sources of energy and strategy for moving our state beyond the current conservative era. To get there, we need a robust NC Justice Center as part of an organized progressive movement, with all of us advocating for sustained policy change that expands opportunity, strengthens communities, and ensures fairness across our state.”
Featured image via Matthew Clements.
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