RALEIGH —North Carolina state Sen. Graig Meyer (D-Orange) announced his resignation from the General Assembly to become executive director at the North Carolina Justice Center. Meyer announced the resignation, effective March 31, in a lengthy Facebook post last Monday.
“Over twelve years ago, I ran for office to fight for educational opportunity for the students and families I served in North Carolina’s public schools,” wrote Meyer. “I entered North Carolina’s General Assembly bright-eyed and naive, and full of energy. The interceding years have been full of joy, pain, hard work, disappointment, frustration, fellowship, and so much more.
“Toiling through twelve years of a conservative majority has been challenging. But the challenge has been offset by the gift of getting to know and love the diverse communities in Orange, Person, and Caswell Counties. … I am deeply humbled and beyond excited to share that I will become the next Executive Director of the North Carolina Justice Center.”
Meyer is not the first lawmaker to resign from the legislature to head up the North Carolina Justice Center. Former Democratic Rep. Rick Glazier resigned from the General Assembly in 2015 to become its executive director.
“Graig has spent his career fighting for North Carolina families and expanding opportunity in our state,” Letha Muhammad and Matt Case, co-chairs of the N.C. Justice Center Board of Directors, said in a press release. “His experience as an educator, social worker, and legislative leader reflects the values that guide the NC Justice Center’s work. We are excited to welcome him as Executive Director and confident that his leadership will strengthen the organization’s impact and partnerships across North Carolina.”
The N.C. Justice Center, a left-leaning think tank, says its mission is to “create lasting, equitable change for people with low incomes and those harmed by systemic oppression across our state. We partner with impacted communities and those we represent to pursue justice and prosperity for all through policy advocacy, strategic litigation, research, coalition-building and support for grassroots action.”
According to tax filings, the N.C. Justice Center is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit, and it’s 2024 filing shows revenue of more than $9.15 million.
It is the parent organization of Blueprint NC (BPNC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit that has become an umbrella group for partnerships of over 120 left-leaning and progressive organizations in the state.
In 2013, BPNC drew backlash over a leaked internal memo directing its partners to “cripple, slam, and eviscerate” all Republican elected officials, with a particular focus on former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
A decade later, in 2023, N.C. Justice Center’s blog, NC Policy Watch, was acquired by the dark-money funded States Newsroom, and the blog’s name was changed to NC Newsline.
Meyer was in his second term in the North Carolina Senate and previously served four terms in the House. The Democratic Party will have to nominate someone to fill his unexpired term. That person will likely need to be recognized as a candidate to run for the seat in the upcoming November election against Republican Laura Pichardo.
Meyer also founded and runs The Equity Collaborative (TEC), a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training outfit that has conducted training in school districts around the country and in North Carolina, including the state’s largest district of Wake County.
A records request showed Wake County Public Schools had paid TEC $440,500 between 2019 and June 2025 for DEI and critical race theory training. A 2021 analysis of TEC contracts by North State Journal showed TEC had garnered more than $1.29 million in fees nationally, including over $350,000 combined from four North Carolina K-12 public school districts.
