Matt Hughes hopes to lead Orange County Democrats again

The Democratic Party is looking to rebound from its statewide losses in November’s midterm elections, and Orange County Democratic Party chairman Matt Hughes, who is running unopposed for reelection at the annual party convention in April, wants to lead that effort locally.

Hughes was initially elected to the party chairman position in November 2011. If he’s elected in April, it will be Hughes’ third term as chairman.

Hughes said one of his biggest accomplishments was increasing voter turnout in the recent midterm elections.

“I think that when you look at the biggest accomplishments, when you look at politics, what you can point to, more times than not, are election results,” Hughes said. “We increased significantly the share of the vote but also the number of the votes for the Democratic nominee by 7,300 votes nearly.”

Hughes attributed the achievement to the work of volunteers and party support.

“I think it’s undeniable that that is a big accomplishment, not just my own accomplishment, but also the accomplishment of the volunteers that gave their time to work on getting out the vote,” Hughes said.

North Carolina Democrats lost a key Senate seat in the midterm election when incumbent Kay Hagan was defeated by Republican Thom Tillis.

“We don’t have a lot of losses to really mount back from ... Senator Hagan lost in the last election by less than 50,000 votes, which is an incredibly close election,” Hughes said.

“You know it just seems that we have to work harder to drive out more votes in the future.”

Susan Romaine, first vice chairwoman of the Orange County Democratic Party, said Hughes is a great leader for the party.

“I think we have the perfect person in Matt Hughes to lead this county’s efforts to turn out the vote and turn North Carolina blue again,” Romaine said.

Romaine said Hughes was a successful chairman because of his hard work and dedication to the party, his ability to work well with people with various backgrounds and his knowledge of all the issues at hand.

“I think the party leader needs to have a clear vision for what the party needs to do to turnout the vote,” Romaine said. “The person needs to work very well with other people, and not only just Democrats, but also to be able to reach across the aisle and reach out to unaffiliated voters, voters that haven’t made up their minds, and even Republicans.”

Ann DeMaine, third vice chairwoman of the party, said she has known Hughes since he was in high school.

“He has done work organizing his high school Democratic Party group,” DeMaine said. “He is one of the brightest people I have ever met.”

DeMaine said that a good party leader must have the abilities to get along well with a large group of people, attract new people into the party organization and be aware of issues not just into the community but statewide, all of which Hughes has.

“He’s done a good job including a lot of people and he’s also done a really job representing us with the state Democratic Party,” DeMaine said.

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