James Calvin "Cal" Cunningham III is an American lawyer, politician, and retired military officer. A member of the Democratic Party and a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve, he served one term as a North Carolina state senator from 2001 to 2003. Having previously run for United States Senate in a 2010 primary, Cunningham was the Democratic nominee for the 2020 U.S. Senate election in North Carolina, losing to incumbent Republican Thom Tillis.