One seat short of GOP supermajority, NC’s next Speaker of the House welcomes Dems to join caucus

Holding out hope for a Republican supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly, state leaders welcomed any Democrats to join the Republican caucus during a press conference on the 2024 election results. 

Rep. Tricia Cotham made history after being elected as a Democrat and then converting to the Republican Party in April 2023. The move gave House Republicans the 60% threshold needed for a supermajority to override Democrat Governor Roy Cooper. With Democrat Josh Stein now governor-elect, the supermajority remains a powerful tool for Republicans. 

However, days after this year’s general election, House Republicans find themselves in the same position, just one seat shy of a supermajority, while Senate Republicans expanded their override margins by picking up one seat.

Poised to be the next Speaker of the House, Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, called it a “working supermajority” that won’t change the legislature’s agenda items, but he also welcomed any Democrats to join the Republican caucus. 

“The first thing I would say is we’re always accepting new members in the Republican caucus if anybody else wants to change parties,” said Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell. “And North Carolina has a changing landscape, some areas that used to vote one way, maybe you’re starting to vote another way. So we’ll see. We may have some folks who sign up to actually join our caucus.”

Hall noted that it doesn’t have to be just Republicans who agree to override a bill, as Democrats are obviously free to vote with Republicans on legislation and override votes. 

Republicans will also focus on the total number of members who are there on a given day for votes; if any one of the 120 legislators is absent during floor votes, the 60% threshold is adjusted. For example, if two legislators are missing, the three-fifths supermajority is reduced to 71.

Republican leaders were still waiting on some elections results on Wednesday afternoon due to the tight margins in House District 32, in Graham and Vance Counties. Incumbent Republican Frank Sossoman is trailing the Democrat Bryan Cohn by less than half a percent—just 182 votes. Notably, the Libertarian candidate pulled 1,128 votes, enough to swing the outcome.

Even if the House doesn’t pick up one seat for the supermajority, Hall said he is confident that fair-minded, pro-business Democrats will help in passing common-sense legislation.

“We’ll do all we can to work with them in all seriousness and frankness,” he said. “I hope that some of them do switch parties, we’ll see what happens. That is an uncommon phenomenon, but even still if no one switches parties, I’m confident that there are a number of Democrats in the House caucus – not the majority of their caucus, but there’s a number of them who we’ll be able to work with on specific policy items and continue to be able to pass good legislation.”

Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, suggested during the press conference that recounts may be needed for some key races. 

“We have in the Senate a solid super majority, and I believe that after the canvas and the recount process, we very likely will build on that – and that isn’t by accident,” said Berger. “That’s because we had quality candidates across the entire state. Our candidates represented the best of the state of North Carolina.”