The Political Beat: District 14 Democrat candidate LaKesha Womack discusses campaign, priorities

CHARLOTTE — The race for the 14th congressional district includes parts of Mecklenburg County, stretching out to Polk County.

Democrat candidate LaKesha Womack beat Brent Calwell and Ahmid Kargbo in the primary and now faces incumbent Republican Tim Moore in November.

Codiga sat down with The Political Beat’s Joe Bruno. You can find the full interview below.

LaKesha Womack, (D) NC-14 Candidate: I am a business owner. My primary job is working as a consultant. And I work with three clients. One is the CDFI here in Charlotte. And I actually moved to Charlotte in 2016 to work on Hillary’s campaign, and I fell in love with the city and decided to relocate my son and my business here, and have just fell in love with the city. And then I’ll say maybe two years ago, I started feeling the tug that I wanted to get more involved in politics and tell my friends, like, I think I’m gonna run for Congress. And they were like, okay, and then I filed in December, and the rest is history.

Joe Bruno: This is your first run for office, but you’ve been involved with politics. As you said, you just you moved to Charlotte to work on Hillary’s campaign. What was that like?

LW: You know, it was a lot working on a presidential campaign, and I was actually a part of a special team where we were building capacity from South Carolina for North Carolina. And you know, that was Trump’s first run, and it really just helped to help me to see how disconnected the parties had become from the average voters. And I think that just knocking on doors and calling people and hearing like their frustrations. And I think for a long time, the parties had kind of taken those frustrations for granted, and he was really able to speak to a lot of those frustrations. And I learned a lot.

JB: What made you want to take the leap now? You’ve been on the other side and see how things happen and what made you want to put your name now on the line for people to choose.

LW: Well, you know, I’ve been watching, you know, as this administration has been dismantling a lot of the agencies and departments that we’ve relied on, and I believe that when the Democrats retake the house, which I believe we will in November, that there’s going to be a rebuilding process. And as a strategist, that’s what I do. I help companies rebuild. And so I just felt like I wanted to be a part of that rebuilding so that we don’t put back things the way that they were, but that we really look at our economy and our communities to figure out what are the actual needs that we have, and then how do we rebuild these agencies so that they meet the needs of our communities?

JB: It’s an interesting shape district. You got north and south Mecklenburg, a little bit of West Mecklenburg, and then it goes all the way to, like Burke County, I think even further than Burke, you know, how are you traveling the district? What are the different needs that you are hearing in, you know, the western part of the district, compared to, say, Mecklenburg County?

LW: We have Burke, Cleveland, Gaston, Rutherford, Polk and then, as you said, the, you know, C shape of Mecklenburg, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, everyone wants their children to have a quality education. Everyone’s concerned about health care, everyone’s concerned about the billions of dollars that are being spent on this war of choice and on issues that just are not affecting their lives. And so, you know, we’ve been trying to figure out, like, what is that common denominator? And to really speak to that, and people just want a better life for themselves. They want security for seniors. And so just really trying to listen more than I speak, so that I can hear from the residents, like, what their concerns are. But they really fall into, like, those three or four buckets.

JB: What do you think the top issue is for the 14th district?

LW: I would say the top issue is definitely health care. I think a lot of people are concerned. Like I met one gentleman who said that, you know, he had to let his clap. And so he’s gonna, you know, spend the next year, you know, on a wing and a prayer, hoping that he doesn’t get sick and he doesn’t need to go to the hospital. And that just shouldn’t be the case in our country. And so, you know, I have seniors who are concerned about their health benefits rising, well, their health care rising, and then their social security benefits getting lower. And so it’s just, you know, a lot around health care. And so I would say, like, that’s one of the bigger issues that we’ve been hearing about.

JB: One thing that stood out on your website to me was you were promising to have town halls, yes. And you know, you’re a Democrat in the 14th district too. And you know, sometimes there might be more Republicans and Democrats at those town halls. You know, knowing that, like, why is it important for you to engage with like, people who may vote differently or have different stances on issues than you

LW: Yeah, I think it’s important. Because you know, when you go to put gas in your car, like the gas pump isn’t asking, Are you a Democrat or Republican? When you go buy groceries, like the cashier isn’t asking, Are you a Democrat or Republican? So you know, no matter who votes for me, I’ll be representing all of the people in the district, and so you know, I welcome comments, or, you know, commentary from anyone. My only request is just be respectful, like we can disagree, but just be respectful. You know, I want to hear like what people’s pain points are, and to figure out what I can do to solve those issues. But you know, it doesn’t matter what your party affiliation is or if you’re unaffiliated, because, you know, we have a lot of unaffiliated voters in this in the state, as a matter of fact, and so, you know, everyone deserves to be heard.

JB: What would you say you would attribute your primary win to? How did you run your campaign? What did that look like?

LW: So just being present in the community, I think that’s what really made me stand out. Like people really appreciated the fact that I showed up. I think I was probably attending campaign events, like, maybe I would say, like, seven or eight times a week, just being like at the meetings. And I don’t have like, main character syndrome, so I don’t have to be like the speaker at the event to show up. And so a lot of meetings like I went to just to listen and to hear like what was happening. And people just appreciated that, you know, I was there and that I was listening, and the word spread, and I would meet people, and they’re like, you know, my parents love you. And I’m like, I have no idea who you are or who your parents are, but you know, I just appreciate that people were telling other people, you know, how I show up, and that they felt like they finally had a representative that they could believe in.

JB: To wrap things up, the districts are drawn in a way where competitive races aren’t encouraged. What is your message to all of the Republican voters and maybe the unaffiliated voters who lean GOP on why they should give you a shot for the seat in November.

LW: Well, I’ll just say, you know, get to know me. You know, figure out, you know, am I the person that you trust that shares your values? Because I get a lot of times people ask like, you know, what are your legislative priorities? Or, you know, what bills would you vote on? And you don’t know what bills are going to come before you. Like it all sounds great in theory, but you have to find someone that you trust their values, you trust their judgment. And so I’ll say, like, just get to know me and see if you trust me to vote on your behalf and to help make this district better for you.

Part 2: The Political Beat with Ch. 9’s Joe Bruno (April 13, 2026)