Hope for NC Democrats
In this time of chaos and dismay, it is critical to remember that the 2024 election in North Carolina gave hope to Democrats across the country. NC Democrats broke the supermajority, won the Governor’s race, and secured 5 out of 10 Council of State races. They broke the Republicans supermajority hold on the General Assembly by a one vote margin in the House of Representatives. Now, Democratic Governor Stein can veto legislation, and unified Democrats can sustain his veto. That gives Democrats a seat at the table when legislation is crafted.
To explore all the implications of this victory, I interviewed Senator Sydney Batch and Representative Robert Reives and listened to their statements at the C2C + NOC kick-off. When asked, “How did you break the supermajority?” both Senator Batch and Representative Reives identified three things that stood out: “running great candidates in every district in NC, running against Mark Robinson, tying Republicans to his coattails, and talking to voters through canvassing and phone banks”.
According to Senator Batch, Republicans are proposing a number of “red herring” bills, designed to both draw attention and distract the electorate from larger issues like the budget. So far in this legislative session, such red herring bills propose to allow people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, to criminalize voter registration drives, and to prevent the Attorney General from filing suit against the content of any of President Trump’s executive orders. If any of these bills should pass in NC, Governor Stein’s veto may stop them from becoming law.
Prohibiting another Republican supermajority has also led to major bipartisanship. According to Senator Batch, “The legislature is working together with Governor Stein to help North Carolinians recover from Hurricane Helene, the largest disaster the state has ever experienced, estimated at $59 billion in damage.” Representative Reives mentioned that three Democratic members from Western NC are currently working with Republican colleagues on the Helene Relief Bill.
Representative Reives said, “When people are getting their news from social media it makes an incredible difference to talk to someone that has a different view. It’s difficult to hate a person for their beliefs if you actually get to talk to them.”
Reives also addressed how slim the Democrats’ margin was. He said, “the best way to keep breaking the supermajority is to remember that Democrats are The Big Tent Party. We need to not only say it, but live it. If someone down East needs to respond to their constituency by voting a certain way, we need to honor that. It won’t be so easy to pick off a Democrat this session since the Republicans aren’t re-writing the district maps.”
Senator Batch added, “There’s a fiscal cliff approaching NC with reductions in federal funding and NC Republicans wanting to eliminate corporate income taxes. That will put NC in deficit for years. Republicans are saying it will be fine, we can ignore the economists’ predictions. Democrats are working to prevent us falling off the fiscal cliff.” NC received $35.4 billion of federal funding in the 2024 fiscal year.
Senator Batch and Representative Reives agreed that their top legislative priority is to preserve Medicaid expansion. They know that If the federal government withdraws its share of support for Medicaid expansion, 600,000 NC citizens will lose their healthcare insurance.”
There is a lot at stake. “How,” I asked, “are we going to stop Republicans from picking off a Democratic member?” According to Representative Reives, “The Republicans won’t be able to easily pick off a Democrat at this time because they don’t have a seat they can dangle in front of them. Cotham’s run was financed by Republicans, and because they were redrawing the maps they could give her a seat”.
At the end of the C2C + NOC kick-off Representative Reives and Senator Batch were asked, “What do we need to do to continue to break the supermajority?” They said, “Keep talking to voters to find out what they care about and tell them that Democrats are working on their issues. Also, now is the time to educate volunteers on how to canvass and phone bank. We’re going to need C2C + NOC, the churches, the activist groups and everyone that wants a better NC in 2026.”