Cal Cunningham

James Calvin Cunningham III (born August 6, 1973) is an American attorney, politician, and retired military officer who served as the North Carolina State Senator from the 23rd district from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve. After a previous primary campaign for the United States Senate in the 2010 election, Cunningham became the Democratic nominee in the 2020 election. He supports the Affordable Care Act, police reform, and measures to tackle climate change.

Cunningham was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and grew up in Lexington, North Carolina. He attended Vanderbilt University before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated from UNC in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy. During college, Cunningham was inducted into the Golden Fleece Honorary Society and the Order of the Grail-Valkyries.

Cunningham received a Master of Science in public policy and public administration from the London School of Economics. He then earned a Juris Doctor in 1999 from University of North Carolina School of Law.

During the summer of 1993, Cunningham attended American University and interned on Capitol Hill for a subcommittee chaired by Senator Carl Levin.

State Senate

In November 2000, Cunningham was elected to represent the 23rd Senate district of the North Carolina General Assembly, which included parts of Davidson, Rowan, and Iredell CountiesAt the time of his election, he was North Carolina’s youngest legislator. After the campaign, another candidate challenged Cunningham’s residency. The challenge was denied by the local and state Boards of Elections, North Carolina Superior Court, and the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The North Carolina Supreme Court later refused to grant a stay against the earlier decision of the Court of Appeals.

In the Senate, Cunningham served as Vice Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Education Appropriations, Policy and Joint Oversight Committees. He did not run for reelection after the 23rd district was split into three Republican-leaning districts after the 2010 census.

Law firms

From 2003 to 2004, Cunningham worked at the Wallace & Graham law firm. In 2004 he joined the Kilpatrick Townsend law firm.

In 2008, Cunningham received a Pro Bono Impact Award and recognition from Legal Aid of Forsyth County for legal representation of victims of domestic violence and of tenants in disputes with their landlords.

U.S. Army Reserve

In 2002, Cunningham was commissioned in the Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General's Corps. He is a graduate the Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, and the Judge Advocate Officer Advanced Course, In the Reserve, he serves with an airborne unit at Fort Bragg. He has been mobilized for two active duty tours.

In 2005, Cunningham served with XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg as a Special Assistant United States Attorney.

In 2007, Cunningham was mobilized by XVIII Airborne Corps and served as the senior trial counsel, Multi-National Corps–Iraq. He was lead counsel in the first court-martial since 1968 of a contractor/civilian under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. For his service in Iraq, Cunningham was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. In 2009, Cunningham was awarded the General Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership as one of the outstanding company grade officers in the Army, including for his service in Iraq.

In 2011, Cunningham was assigned to work with a special operations task force in Afghanistan.

Boards and commissions

Since 2003, Cunningham has served as an appointee of the Governor on the Board of Trustees of Davidson County Community College. He also served as an appointee of the Governor on the North Carolina Banking Commission. He is a former vice chair of the Governor's Crime Commission.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

In 2010, Cunningham ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Richard Burr. Other candidates in the May 4, 2010, Democratic primary included Elaine Marshall and Ken Lewis. Retired NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark endorsed Cunningham, saying that he would be "the first veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to serve in the U.S. Senate." Cunningham also received the endorsement of the state's largest organization of teachers, the North Carolina Association of Educators. He finished second in the primary, but since no candidate received 40% of the vote, he advanced to a runoff with the first-place finisher, Marshall. He lost the runoff election on June 22, 2010.

WasteZero

In 2013 Cunningham joined the environmental services company WasteZero as vice president, government affairs, and general counsel. WasteZero helps support pay-as-you-throw waste reduction systems, which municipalities in North Carolina and elsewhere have debated implementing.

Cunningham left WasteZero on March 20, 2020, shortly after winning the Democratic nomination, but as of July 2020 continued to work for the company as an independent contractor.

2020 U.S. Senate campaign

Cunningham originally declared his candidacy for lieutenant governor of North Carolina but withdrew in June 2019 to run for the United States Senate seat held by Thom Tillis instead. On March 3, 2020, he won the Democratic primary with 57% of the vote. During the primary, a Republican-allied Super PAC spent $3 million on ads attacking Cunningham and supporting left-wing opponent Erica Smith in order to "amplify fault lines in the Democratic party".

Cunningham supports the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and has called for a Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, as well as a public health insurance option. Cunningham has said he opposes the Green New Deal, but he does support significant federal investment aimed at creating jobs and slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030 and to net zero by 2050. Those are, in essence, the goals of both the Green New Deal and the Paris climate accord (which Cunningham thinks the United States should rejoin).

In July 2020, Tillis claimed Cunningham had been "silent" on the issue of defunding the police, saying, "I assume his silence is consent". In fact, Cunningham had published an op-ed a month earlier stating his opposition to defunding the police and advocating police reform, including policies that "counsel de-escalation, prohibit chokeholds, limit no-knock warrants, and specifically address the use of deadly force".

On October 2, 2020 he admitted to sending text messages of a sexual nature to a woman who is not his wife.

In 2003, Cunningham was selected as one of the Jaycees' Outstanding Young North Carolinians and received the group's Distinguished Service Award.

In 2007, Cunningham was selected for a Marshall Memorial Fellowship and traveled to Belgium, France, Italy, Denmark, and Poland to meet with government and civic leaders about Trans-Atlantic security, combating Islamic extremism, and terrorism. He was also selected as one of Triad Business Journal's "Forty Leaders Under Forty".

In 2009, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the General Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership for his service in Iraq.