After a month of doing nothing, we had two days of doing everything. Lawmakers took up veto overrides, approved a watered-down budget, and advanced an elections bill.
And, as expected, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley jumped into the Senate race. Read more about him.
— Bryan Anderson
🧑⚖️ Roll Call
1. Why Robert Reives couldn’t keep dissidents in line
2. Democrats who voted to override vetoes explain why
3. Lawmakers back a mini budget
4. John Bell’s hemp company fights back
Go Your Own Way
On Tuesday, the General Assembly overrode eight of Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes. More details on the legislation below, but Republicans are celebrating their show of strength. In 2023 and 2024, when they overturned 29 of Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, Republicans had supermajorities in both chambers. Unless a Republican defected—which never happened—Democrats were powerless.
But in November, Democrats broke the House supermajority by one seat.
“This marks a monumental shift in the balance of power in North Carolina,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams crowed at the time. “That unchecked GOP power ends today.”
One caveat: House Democrats had to show up and vote together. That, it seems, proved too much to ask.
At least one Democrat sided with Republicans in all eight veto overrides. State Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County, who backed a bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, got the most attention for a floor speech in which she declared that “all cultures are not equal.” State Reps. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County, Nasif Majeed of Mecklenburg County, and Cecil Brockman of Guilford County also broke ranks. (Brockman, Willingham, and Cunningham were already on liberals’ naughty list.)
That also got some folks wondering why Democrats don’t exercise the same discipline Republicans do. In February, when the legislative session was young and Democratic hopes ran high, The Assembly spoke with House Minority Leader Robert Reives about this subject during an interview for a separate article.
When Democrats were in a superminority, “we held together pretty darn good,” Reives said. “We’ve got the same challenges that society has at this point, and that is staying focused, understanding what’s important, and realizing we’re part of a coalition.”
Reives expected that his caucus’ toughest votes this year would come when Republicans inserted “poison pills” into otherwise uncontroversial legislation or tried to peel off his members by offering perks for their districts.
“It’s difficult,” he said. “But at some point, we’ve got to care more about our people than we do our particular jobs. If you get voted out doing the right thing, then it is what it is.”
Still, Reives doesn’t have many tools to keep dissidents in line. He doesn’t control committee assignments or legislation. And while he could threaten to back primary challenges, that would risk further alienating disaffected members, potentially leading them to switch parties like Rep. Tricia Cotham did in 2023. That, in turn, would give Republicans another supermajority.
In any event, Reives doesn’t like exerting pressure.
“I’ve never been one to lean on them,” he said. “Because my thing is, I can’t hire or fire them. What I have tried to do is point out to them the power they have. Republicans would have killed for this minority 20 years ago. Because they’ve got enough power to stop things. The ability to stop policy also allows you the ability to sit down in that room and negotiate something.”
Reives said he believed Democrats would be there when he needed them.
“I feel good because every member that’s in this caucus—obviously, except the first-years—has shown, look, we can toe the party line when we need to,” he said.
This week, his faith went unrewarded.
— Jeffrey Billman
Thanks for reading The Caucus, a politics newsletter anchored by Bryan Anderson. Reach us with tips or ideas at politics@theassemblync.com.
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In Their Words
Here’s what the Democratic dissenters said about their votes to override Stein’s vetoes:
Cunningham: She forcefully supported a bill that says people in the country illegally who are charged with certain crimes can be held by law enforcement longer, and jail administrators must notify ICE before releasing someone held on a detainer. Her vote came to the chagrin of Democrats.
Cunningham said immigrants must learn to assimilate, and the governor must turn off a “conveyor belt” that has allowed millions of people to enter the country unlawfully.
But she told The Assembly after her votes that she’d remain a Democrat and wouldn’t switch parties, as some Democrats have feared.
Willingham: He said Stein called him the night before the vote to try to get him to sustain his vetoes. Willingham voted against Stein on several bills, including one that allows approved private school teachers or volunteers to act as armed security guards on campus and another that eliminates a carbon emissions goal.
“Gov. Stein, he’s just getting to know me,” Willingham said. “I think now he knows that whatever I say I’m going to do, that’s what I’m going to do. So he could take that to the bank.”
Majeed: He backed a measure allowing people to sue medical providers over gender transitions and requiring schools to let parents prevent their children from checking out library books that they find objectionable.
“I just voted my conscience and my values,” Majeed said.
(Brockman couldn’t be reached for comment.)
— Bryan Anderson
In Miniature
Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported a so-called mini budget that aims to address some of the state’s most pressing needs, including increases to teacher pay based on years of service (not formal raises), support for the State Health Plan, and funds for more DMV employees and offices.
Tucked into the bill are a few GOP policy goals: Adding seven political appointees to the North Carolina State Board of Elections; $1.5 million for the NCSBE to retain private counsel (so they don’t have to rely on Attorney General Jeff Jackson); and the D.A.V.E. Act, which would let Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek lead a DOGE-like effort.
The Division of Accountability, Value, and Efficiency (aka DAVE) will hire up to 45 people to help Boliek draft a report by the end of the year recommending state agencies/divisions/offices that should be dissolved and positions that should be eliminated. It will cost $12 million over the next two fiscal years.
I asked the state’s top lawmakers about the irony of hiring more government workers only to cut government positions.
“If you’re going to have personnel looking at state-level spending and state-level programs, you’re going to have to do that,” GOP Senate Leader Phil Berger said.
House Speaker Destin Hall: “It’s spending money to save money down the road.”
The measure now heads to Stein, who has called on lawmakers to send him a more comprehensive two-year spending plan.
The Wheels on the Omnibus
House lawmakers nixed a number of controversial provisions from an elections omnibus bill. The provisions would have prohibited elections officials from encouraging people to vote, allowed foreign nationals to influence ballot measures, and replaced one in three civil servants at the NCSBE with political appointees.
The new version of House Bill 958 reduces the number of new NCSBE political appointees to five, from the original proposal for 25.
The measure will almost assuredly undergo more changes. But at least for now, some of the most heavily scrutinized pieces of the bill are either gone or watered down.
— Bryan Anderson
Hemp Wars
In a blistering court filing last week, state Rep. John Bell’s hemp company accused its former business partner of engaging in “organized criminal activity,” including wire and bank fraud, tariff evasion, threatening a former employee, and lying about its financial condition.
The allegations are included in Asterra Labs’ response to MC Neutraceuticals’ federal lawsuit, which accused Bell’s company of threatening to use political connections to coerce MC into paying more than $1.5 million.
Asterra’s 88-page counterclaim, filed on July 25, argued that MC’s lawsuit was intended not to resolve a dispute but to “publicly embarrass Asterra and its affiliates.” And the counterclaim also tried to nuke MC’s reputation.
Read more here.
— Jeffrey Billman
Let us know what’s on your radar at politics@theassemblync.com.