Once again, North Carolina voters have chosen a Democrat to lead the executive branch and Republicans to lead the General Assembly.

But Gov.-elect Josh Stein could start with greater leverage in negotiations with GOP leaders than Gov. Roy Cooper has had in his last two years in office, in 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 two House races potentially going to recounts, Republicans are sure to maintain a majority but perhaps not a veto-proof supermajority in that chamber.

In the Senate, Republicans maintained their total control.

That means what bills become law in North Carolina hinge on just a handful of votes — which legislator may or may not be on the floor during a vote, or which Democrat might vote with Republicans on certain issues.

Republicans described what could be a one-vote difference in control as a “working supermajority,” during a newsconference on Wednesday at NC GOP headquarters in Raleigh.

New people, same powers at play

Like outgoing governor Cooper, Stein will be a Democrat negotiating across the aisle on everything from bringing new business and jobs to the state to disagreeing on “culture wars” bills to deciding how much in raises to give state employees and teachers to changes in abortion law to — well, everything that North Carolina lawmakers get to decide for the 10.8 million people who live here.

The dynamic of Republican Senate 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 didn’t 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 to be Stein, Berger and Rep. Destin Hall, the current House Rules Committee chair and expected next speaker, once his caucus votes him in.

Stein told The News & Observer in a recent interview that it was better for the state when Cooper and Berger and Moore had to negotiate, before then-Democratic N.C. Rep. Tricia Cotham switched parties in 2023 to Republican, handing the GOP total control. Cotham’s narrow win on Tuesday is one of those facing a potential recount.

Stein and Berger

“I’ve always been able to work well with people from whatever party. I worked well with Sen. Berger. We’re always very respectful to one another,” Stein said. Stein served in the state 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 respectfully hear me out, and I would certainly hear him out on his positions,” Stein said about Berger.

On Wednesday, Berger also noted that he’s known Stein for years.

“I think, like Gov. Cooper, it kind of depends on the issue whether we’re able to work things out or not. I think on economic development matters, we’ll continue to find a lot of common ground.”

“I think there likely will be other things where there’s common ground. They’re going to be things that we’re going to disagree on. There’s no question that from a philosophical standpoint, he’s in a completely different place than the members of the Republican Senate caucus, and I would say the Republican House caucus. So we’ve managed through that over the past 14 years, off and on, and we’ll continue to do so,” Berger said.

Stein also knows the two Democratic leaders of the chambers the past several sessions: longtime Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue of Raleigh and House Democratic Leader Robert Reives of Chatham County. Reives said Thursday that 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 House folks as well, because I served in the Senate for eight years. But what’s crazy is, is when I’ve been out eight years, which I have been at this stage, there’s so much turnover over there. So there can be a lot of new relationships I need to form in the House and in the Senate. And I look forward to doing it,” Stein said.

On Wednesday, Hall said that while he and Stein don’t know each other well, “in any event, we’re going to work with him, as Sen. Berger said, work with him where we can, and I’m sure there will be areas where we can do that every now and then.”

Hall’s next sentence sets the stage for some legislative battles.

“There’s going to be a lot of areas where we can’t. But in any event, we’ve not let that stop us as a Republican legislature in the past, and getting things done. And I don’t think it’ll 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 cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in keeping inmates detained with funding for a backlog of applicants for private school vouchers. Stein hasn’t answered directly about the detainer part of the bill, but he is adamantly opposed to the voucher funding.

Stein opposes Republicans’ expansion of private school vouchers, which extends to families regardless of income, and which means about $500 million more dollars in taxpayer money this year if they successfully override Cooper’s veto as soon as in a Nov. 19 legislative session.

“We’re one of the few states that don’t have any accountability measures,” Stein told The N&O, citing a lack of requirements for curriculum, certifications and taking all student applicants, including those who are from different faiths, or gay, or special needs.

“That we are spending this money in that fashion, I find very distressing. They’re hollowing out public education, and we should all be alarmed.”

Republicans who support the measure as part of the idea of “school choice,” however, think that taxpayer money should follow students to private schools if they choose not to attend public schools.

Long session in 2025

Education funding in the 2025 legislative session is likely to once again be a key issue with a divide between Democrats and Republicans. The bulk of the work in the 2025 long session will be to pass a two-year state budget.

A major issue last year was abortion. Many Republicans who are still in office say they don’t think they’ll pass a new bill furthering restrictions on abortion. If they do send one to Stein, he says he will veto it.

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