Endorsements are out from the Durham People’s Alliance Political Action Committee for the March 3 primary, and they lean heavily toward new faces. The influential local political group endorsed a challenger in N.C.’s Fourth Congressional District, four new school board members and a mere handful of incumbents in the contested races.
“I’m ecstatic,” Nida Allam said about receiving the endorsement. Allam, currently vice chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives District 4 against incumbent U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee. The People’s Alliance endorsed Allam in 2022 for the same position.
More than 580 members attended the virtual meeting, which ended after midnight, said People’s Alliance PAC coordinator Nana Asante-Smith. That’s a marked increase from previous years. About 230 members attended the 2025 municipal election endorsement meeting, while almost 300 members were at the 2024 primary endorsement meeting.
In the North Carolina Senate District 22 race, incumbent Sophia Chitlik was endorsed over former City Council member DeDreana Freeman.
Other key endorsements include Satana Deberry for Durham County District Attorney and Natalie Bent Kitaif, Nadeen Bir, Gabrielle Rivero and Xavier Cason for Durham school board.
At the national level, the group endorsed Roy Cooper for the U.S. Senate. The group also endorsed a series of Democratic candidates who don’t face opposition, including unopposed Democratic candidates for state legislature, Anita Earls for state Supreme Court and other judicial candidates.
The meeting was “robust in discussion and engagement,” said Asante-Smith. For some of the races, over 30 speakers spoke on behalf of their respective candidates.
Asante-Smith is one of seven PAC coordinators, a group of volunteers elected by the membership to oversee and execute the political work. Since she began her tenure in 2017, she has presided over the endorsement meetings.
“It’s… no surprise that, especially given the state of our country, our state and this world, that folks turn to opportunities, entities and processes like that of the PA for civic engagement and to participate in a process in which they feel like they can have an influence,” she said.
Founded in 1976, the People’s Alliance has three separate entities: the political action committee (PAC), the advocacy organization, and the 501(c)(3) nonprofit People’s Alliance Fund. The organization has approximately 10,000 supporters in its database, with 1,000 currently active participants, according to Lead Coordinator Ann Rebeck.
The PAC coordinators start the endorsement process by developing questionnaires to send to each candidate. They then recruit members to serve as volunteers on interview committees. This year, there were three committees: education, judiciary and non-judiciary.
At the endorsement meeting, a representative from each interview committee presents their recommendation before discussion and voting.
Members can vote for one of the candidates or select “No Endorsement.” The threshold for endorsement is a 51 percent majority. This year, one judicial seat — the N.C. District Court judicial contest between Keith Bishop and Doretta Walker — received no endorsement.
Some races were close, and the members occasionally went against the committee recommendations. The vote for Seat 3 on the N.C. Court of Appeals Judge was the closest: Christine Walczyk received 51% of the vote over James Whalen’s 47%. In the District 2 school board race, while the committee recommended incumbent chair Bettina Umstead, the body chose Nadeen Bir. The committee did not make a recommendation in the District Court judicial race between Clayton Jones and Christy Malott, but the body voted to endorse Malott.
“I’m so appreciative of the People’s Alliance endorsement, and not just in this election, to have consistently earned their endorsement in every election that I’ve ran in,” Allam said.
In her questionnaire for the PAC, she named defending democracy, addressing the affordability crisis and guaranteeing healthcare as her top three priorities. She proposed reducing government spending on defense, corporate welfare and immigration detention.
Chitlik emphasized early childhood education in her questionnaire and wrote about successes in law-making and collaboration in the General Assembly despite the Republican supermajority.
“Sen. Chitlik demonstrates a strong commitment to ongoing constituent services and education, while effectively leveraging the legislative process to advance progressive bills with tangible benefits for residents,” the committee wrote in their recommendation.
Neither endorsement vote was particularly close. In the N.C. Senate race, Chitlik received 77% of the member vote and Freeman received 20%. In the Congressional contest, Allam received 67% and Foushee received 30% of the member vote.
Local endorsements play a key role in candidates’ success in Durham elections. In the last election cycle, all four candidates endorsed by the PA for the Durham County Board of Commissioners won their primary and general elections.
Absentee by-mail voting for the March election began on Monday, Jan. 12, and early voting will begin on Thursday, Feb. 12. Election Day is on Tuesday, March 3.
Above: Nida Allam, center, chats with attendees at a People’s Alliance mixer event on Jan. 6. Allam recently received the group’s endorsement. Photo by Jack Regan — The 9th Street Journal
Sophie Endrud
