Among the most intriguing questions facing Gov. Josh Stein during his first year in office: Would his vetoes stand?
The answer would have a real impact. The General Assembly’s partisan breakdown would force Republicans to get help from at least one state House Democrat to override a Stein veto. Without that support, GOP priorities could die for at least two years.
Events of July 29 helped answer the question. Stein’s veto stamp holds power, but not as much as predecessor Roy Cooper enjoyed during his eight years in office.
Eight bills became law despite Stein’s objections on a single summer day. Voting trends suggest at least one more vetoed bill could become law in the weeks ahead.
A quick review of Cooper’s record might prove helpful.
North Carolina’s only Democratic governor to serve two full terms with a Republican-led General Assembly, Cooper vetoed 104 bills from 2017 through 2024. That’s nearly three times as many vetoes as the 35 issued before he took office.
Legislators voted to override exactly half (52) of Cooper’s vetoes. But the overall record masks three distinct periods during the Cooper regime.
During his first two years (2017-18), Republicans held at least three-fifths of the seats in both the House and Senate. GOP lawmakers could override a veto with party-line votes. They rejected 23 of 28 vetoes.
The 2018 election broke the GOP supermajority in the state House. For the next four years (2019-22), lawmakers failed to override a single veto. Democrats stuck with Cooper all 47 times he used his veto stamp. In 34 cases, neither House nor Senate leaders even attempted an override vote.
The calculus changed again in 2023, when Mecklenburg Democrat Tricia Cotham switched parties. With numbers again on their side, GOP legislative leaders successfully overrode all 29 vetoes Cooper issued during his final two years.
Stein entered office this year facing the same partisan legislative split Cooper faced at the outset of 2023. House Republicans fell one vote short of holding a veto-proof supermajority.
No Democratic lawmakers have changed parties this year. Veto overrides depend on whether a handful of Democrats stick to their initial “yes” votes or flip to “no” to side with Stein.
Lawmakers reconvened in Raleigh on July 29 with 14 Stein vetoes on the table. The legislature revised one bill to address the governor’s objection. Of the remaining 13 bills, 12 faced at least one override vote that day.
The Senate voted to override all 12 vetoes. Every vote fell along party lines. A half dozen Democratic senators flipped from “yes” to “no” to support the governor on at least one bill. Sens. Dan Blue of Wake County and Paul Lowe of Forsyth County both flipped two initial “yes” votes.
Meanwhile, the House voted to override eight Stein vetoes.
Fifteen House Democrats had opportunities to stand by their initial votes or back Stein instead. Eleven chose to support the governor. Rep. Charles Smith of Cumberland County flipped three “yes” votes to “no.” Reps. Ray Jeffers of Person County, Garland Pierce of Scotland County, Dante Pittman of Wilson County, and James Roberson of Wake County all switched two initial “yes” votes to “no.”
In contrast, four Democrats stuck by their initial “yes” votes to help push legislation over the finish line. Rep. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County voted to override six Stein vetoes. Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County supported five overrides. A fellow Mecklenburg Democrat, Rep. Nasif Majeed, supported two.
Rep. Cecil Brockman of Guilford County flipped his support of one vetoed bill from “yes” to “no.” But Brockman backed the override of another bill he hadn’t considered during the initial House vote. He also was the only Democrat on July 29 to flip an initial “no” vote to “yes” to support a veto override.
Democrats’ support helped enact new laws addressing issues such as lowering power bills, reining in state regulators, protecting donor privacy, revising charter school oversight, and stepping up immigration enforcement.
None of the vetoed bills that remained unresolved on July 29 had a single Democratic vote when they initially moved through the House and Senate. Stein’s vetoes might remain secure.
Yet he later vetoed a 15th bill dealing with school choice that won initial support from both Cunningham and Willingham. Recent events suggest that measure has a strong chance of becoming law despite the governor’s objections.
It’s a pattern Stein might face repeatedly through this year and next. He can’t count on every Democrat to back him on every veto vote.
Mitch Kokai is senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation.