Once again, North Carolina voters have chosen a Democrat to lead the executive branch and Republicans to lead the General Assembly.
But newly elected Gov. Josh Stein could start with greater leverage in negotiations with Republican leaders than Gov. Roy Cooper has had in his last two years in office, during which Republicans passed 26 bills over his veto.
Stein will be sworn in in January, as will the 170 members of the state Legislature, returning and new.
With potentially two elections in the House of Representatives, Republicans will certainly retain a majority, but perhaps not a veto-proof supermajority in that chamber.
Republicans retained total control in the Senate.
That means which bills become law in North Carolina depends on just a handful of votes — which lawmaker does or doesn’t speak during a vote, or which Democrat might vote with Republicans on certain issues.
Republicans described what a one-vote difference in control could be as a “working supermajority,” during a news conference Wednesday at the NC GOP headquarters in Raleigh.
New people, same forces at play
Like outgoing Governor Cooper, Stein will be a Democrat negotiating everything from bringing new businesses and jobs to the state, to disagreeing over the “culture wars” law, to deciding how many raises to give state workers and teachers to changes in abortion legislation. to – well, whatever North Carolina lawmakers get to decide for the 10.8 million people who live here.
The dynamic between Republican Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore and Cooper ends on New Year’s Eve, when Cooper and Moore’s terms end. Cooper was limited to two consecutive terms and did not run for anything else, while Moore ran for and won a congressional seat.
Instead, the three men with the most power in North Carolina are likely Stein, Berger and Rep. Destin Hall, the current chairman of the House Rules Committee and the expected next speaker once his caucus approves him.
Stein told The News & Observer in a recent interview that it was better for the state if Cooper, Berger and Moore had to negotiate before then-Democratic N.C. Rep. Tricia Cotham switched the parties to Republicans in 2023, leaving the GOP in complete control handed over. Cotham’s narrow victory on Tuesday is one of those that faces a possible recount.
Stein and Berger
“I have always been able to work well with people from any party. I have worked well with Senator Berger. We are always very respectful of each other,” Stein said. Stein served in the Senate before running for his first of two terms as attorney general in 2016.
“We didn’t always agree on everything, but I felt like he would listen to me respectfully, and I would certainly listen to his views,” Stein said of Berger.
On Wednesday, Berger also noted that he has known Stein for years.
“I think, like Governor Cooper, it kind of depends on the issue whether or not we can work it out. I think we will continue to find many similarities in terms of economic development.”
“I think there will probably be other things where there are similarities. These will be things on which we will disagree. There’s no question that he’s in a very different place philosophically than the members of the Republican Senate Assembly, and I would say the Republican House Assembly. So we’ve gotten through that over the last fourteen years, on and off, and we’ll continue to do that,” Berger said.
Stein also knows the two Democratic leaders of the chambers over the past several sessions: longtime Senate Democratic leader Dan Blue of Raleigh and House Democratic leader Robert Reives of Chatham County. Reives said Thursday he will seek another term as leader.
Stein and Hall
Stein and Hall have not served together in the General Assembly.
“I don’t know Hall as well (as Berger),” Stein said. ‘I don’t know the people of the House of Representatives either, because I spent eight years in the Senate. But what’s crazy is that when I’ve been away for eight years, which I’ve done at this stage, there’s so much turnover there. So there may be a lot of new relationships that I need to build in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. And I’m looking forward to doing it,” Stein said.
On Wednesday, Hall said that while he and Stein don’t know each other well, “we’re certainly going to work with him, as Senator Berger said, work with him where we can, and I’m sure there will be areas where we can and then be able to do it.”
Hall’s next sentence sets the stage for a number of legislative battles.
“There will be many areas where that is not possible. But at least in the past, as a Republican legislature, we haven’t let that stop us from getting things done. And I don’t think it will be any different here, given the supermajority,” Hall said.
Voucher vote before Stein takes office
Hall said Wednesday that Republicans plan to override Cooper’s veto of House Bill 10, which combines a requirement for sheriffs to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain inmates with funding for a backlog of applicants for private school vouchers. Stein did not answer directly about the inmate portion of the bill, but he is adamantly opposed to voucher funding.
Stein opposes Republicans’ expansion of private school vouchers, which extends to families regardless of income and will mean about $500 million more in taxpayer money this year if they successfully override Cooper’s veto in a Nov. 19 legislative session .
“We are one of the few states that does not have accountability measures in place,” Stein told The N&O, citing a lack of requirements for curriculum, certifications and the hiring of all students, including those who are of other faiths or are homosexual . or special needs.
“I find it very distressing that we spend this money in this way. They are eroding public education, and we should all be worried.”
However, Republicans who support the measure as part of the “school choice” idea believe that taxpayer dollars should follow students to private schools if they choose not to attend public schools.
Long session in 2025
Education funding will likely be a key issue again in the 2025 legislative session, with a divide between Democrats and Republicans. The bulk of the work during the 2025 long session will consist of approving a two-year state budget.
An important topic last year was abortion. Many Republicans still in power say they don’t think they will pass a new bill that would advance restrictions on abortion. If they send one to Stein, he says he will veto it.
Under the Dome
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