Republican lawmakers in North Carolina voted to override a governor’s veto of a bill that would strip the state’s new Democratic officials of key powers.
The GOP-led House of Representatives voted along party lines Wednesday to override outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of legislation ostensibly aimed at hurricane relief but also weakening the authority of offices statewide that Democrats won in last month’s election, including governor and attorney general.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted last week to override Cooper’s veto, meaning the bill will now go into effect, although legal challenges are expected. Democrats have blasted Republicans for taking this step after the 2024 elections and before the new year, when the party is on track to lose its supermajority in the Legislature.
“Small businesses and communities in Western North Carolina continue to wait for legislative support as Republicans prioritize political power,” Cooper said in a statement. “Embarrassing.”
Specifically, the measure shifts the authority to appoint members to the North Carolina Board of Elections from the governor’s office, which will be held next year by Democrat Josh Stein, to the auditor’s office, which will be held by Republican Dave Boliek after defeating incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes. .
Republicans in the North Carolina Legislature have tried for years to gain control of the board, which oversees elections in the battleground state, but their efforts have been thwarted by the courts. The Democrats currently have a 3-2 lead on the board.
Three state House Republicans from western North Carolina who voted against the bill originally supported the veto override Wednesday, giving the party the three-fifths support in the House needed to override Cooper.
One of those Republicans, state Rep. Mark Pless, said in an interview before Wednesday’s vote that he was disappointed the bill did not include enough money to help his constituents rebuild their communities after Hurricane Helene.
“I want my people in the mountains to be taken care of,” he told NBC News ahead of the vote. “I just don’t think it does what we were told it would do.”
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., urged Cooper’s veto to be overridden in a speech from the Senate floor in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.
“I understand that there are provisions in it that deal with … a legitimate disagreement about the scope and role of the executive branch,” Tillis said. “But now is not the time for us to reconsider whether or not we should send every signal to the people of North Carolina that help is on the way.”
The 131-page bill moves $227 million to a hurricane relief fund while advancing a range of other Republican priorities, including shortening the time voters have to correct voting errors and requiring counties to count ballots more quickly.
The legislation will also prohibit the attorney general from taking legal positions that conflict with those of the Legislature.
That will prevent incoming Democratic Attorney General Jeff from refusing to defend laws the Legislature has passed, as Stein did last year with the state’s abortion law while in office.
The measure was written behind closed doors, introduced as a replacement for the committee barring redactions, and passed through both Republican-controlled legislative chambers in just two days in November.
“To be clear, the bill is a power grab and not a disaster response,” Stein said last weekend at a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association in California. “It’s petty and wrong.”
In a statement, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison called the move “wrong, disgusting and emblematic of the Republican Party — desperate attempts to consolidate power at all costs rather than trying to save the lives of North Carolinians.” to improve’.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
