NC Democrats restore funding for Eva Clayton fellows program after donor steps in

Amid intraparty backlash, the North Carolina Democratic Party said it'll maintain a program aimed at recruiting college students from historically underrepresented groups.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton discusses an ongoing Supreme Court election protest during a Dec. 10, 2024 news conference in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Democratic Party announced in an internal memo to party leaders on Tuesday that it would restore funding for the Eva Clayton fellowship program, which is aimed at recruiting college students from historically underrepresented communities.

The development comes little more than 24 hours after an Anderson Alerts story on substantial intraparty backlash over the cut made to the state party’s $2.9 million budget. Funding for the fellowship program will now be restored through a donor.

“It was a difficult decision to pause the program this year, and not one that we, the Finance Committee, or the Executive Council took lightly,” NCDP Executive Director Kian Sadjadi wrote in an email to party leaders. “As has been done in past off cycles, we made the decision to pause our fellowship program and bring it back when donations were higher.

“We have heard your feedback and thanks to the generous support of a donor interested in funding this specific program, we are able to bring back the Eva Clayton Fellowship this year.”