Two Republican activists file assault charges against each other following Cumberland GOP meeting

Tensions among Cumberland County Republicans led to a physical altercation at a raucous GOP meeting on Thursday night, and two GOP activists levied misdemeanor assault charges against each other.

The intra-party controversy stems from a dispute on whether it was wrong for five Republican leaders in the party, who operate the Independent Conservative Alliance Political Action Committee, to endorse through their PAC independent candidate Tisha Waddell for Fayetteville mayor when there are two Republicans in the Oct. 7 primary. The GOP has bylaws that prohibit its internal leadership from endorsing non-Republicans running in elections with Republicans.

The women who tangled with each other at the GOP gathering are Laura Mussler and Calista Cuevas, both of Fayetteville. Each told CityView on Friday that the other assaulted her first at the end of an executive committee meeting of the county Republican Party. The executive committee oversees the party’s activities and budget.

An audio recording of the meeting and incident captured people with raised voices at various points, and then the sounds of a scuffle. An angry woman called out, “You put your hand on my neck and I’ll rip your eyes out!”

Mussler, 57, who ran for Fayetteville City Council in 2023, was a leader of a recent prayer walk for assassinated political activist Charlie Kirk, and on Thursday was elected to the county GOP’s executive committee. She also served as the sergeant-at-arms for the meeting, she said.

Cuevas, 41, is the daughter of Republican Fayetteville mayoral candidate Freddie de la Cruz and is chair of the local Moms for Liberty political activist organization.

Cuevas said she was among approximately six people at Thursday’s meeting who were calling for the five Republicans in the PAC to be removed from the executive committee for their endorsement of Waddell. She said this isn’t about her father’s campaign, but about the party following its own rules.

The five Republicans with Independent Conservative Alliance PAC are state Rep. Diane Wheatley, former Fayetteville City Council Member Bobby Hurst, former state Sen. Wesley Meredith, former state House Rep. John Szoka and former Cumberland County Republican Party Chair Jackie Taylor. The PAC formed in 2023 to recruit and help elect viable candidates with politically conservative positions.

According to the audio recording CityView obtained of the meeting, Cuevas and the others were told the local executive committee cannot handle the issue. They were told they can bring the matter to a committee that handles the state Republican Party’s bylaws and seek guidance on how to proceed.

Cuevas and the people with her vociferously disagreed that the local committee could not decide the matter.

Mussler described Cuevas and the others with her as “causing a ruckus”, which she said escalated when the meeting adjourned.

“This person was getting up screaming and pointing in people’s faces,” Mussler said. Mussler said she told Cuevas to leave and to stop sticking her finger in Mussler’s face.

“And then she pushes me. And so I grabbed her to remove her, and then she attacked me again,” Mussler said. “She grabbed me by the face. She scratched me in two separate places on my face. I’ve got scratches all over my arms.”

Cuevas said she never touched Mussler’s arms, and she asserted that Mussler initiated the physical clash.

Cuevas said she was walking backward as Mussler walked toward her, “and she chest bumps me,” she said. “But she doesn’t just chest bump me. She, like, leans her chest on me and, like, puts pressure on my chest, and I fall backwards.”

Cuevas said her shoe fell off, and she pushed Mussler off of her. “And she puts her hand around my throat,” she said.

“I had trouble swallowing for about 30 minutes and when she had her grip on my throat I could not breathe,” Cuevas said. Her ankle was strained in the fall, she said.

Both women said they did not seek medical attention.

Following the incident, the two women visited the county magistrate to file criminal summonses on each other. Neither was arrested. Both are charged with misdemeanor assault, court records say. The maximum possible punishment is 60 days incarceration and a fine of $1,000, according to the Browning & Long law firm.

The women are scheduled to face the charges in Cumberland County District Court at 9 a.m. Nov. 4.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.

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