Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, said a report linking the 2025 Charlotte light-rail killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to a 2021 COVID-era prison release settlement could reshape North Carolina’s 2026 Senate race and boost GOP competitiveness.
“Wow! Could this bombshell report change the U.S. Senate race??? Make the GOP competitive in Carolina,” said Cortes, Founder.
The case has garnered national attention, underscoring debates over pandemic-era early release policies and their potential political impact. On August 22, 2025, Zarutska, aged 23, was fatally stabbed on Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line. Surveillance footage shows her sitting down before suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly attacked her with a knife four minutes later, according to an FBI affidavit. Brown was arrested and faces state murder charges along with a federal count related to violence on mass transit.
In February 2021, civil-rights groups and North Carolina officials reached a settlement in NC NAACP v. Cooper concerning COVID-19 prison conditions. The agreement mandated the early release or transition of at least 3,500 individuals and established oversight to reduce crowding—one of the largest COVID-related prison population reductions achieved through litigation in the United States.
According to WSOC, Charlotte’s ABC affiliate obtained a copy of the list associated with the 2021 prison-release settlement and confirmed that an entry with Brown’s inmate number appears on it. The listing indicates an “early release” date of February 15, 2021, placing him among those released under the agreement. This list had not been previously publicized.
Cortes is known as a political commentator and former financial strategist who contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns in both 2016 and 2020. He has appeared on major networks such as CNBC, Fox News, and CNN. In addition to his media presence, Cortes founded the League of American Workers (LAW) in 2022 to advocate for economic policies benefiting U.S. citizens by conducting research and developing proposals on public policies impacting American workers and the economy.
