North Carolina GOP Can't Win Statewide Office, So They Resort to Cheating to Maintain Power

Republicans in the North Carolina state Senate overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a bill that is a blatant attempt to steal power from Democrats and give it to the GOP-controlled legislature.

Republicans crafted the bill in secret, held no hearings on it, and passed it in November, less than 24 hours after it had been made public. The vote came after Democrats won the governor's mansion and attorney general position in the state for the third cycle in a row, as well as the race for state superintendent of public instruction. Republicans tried to claim the bill was about Hurricane Helene recovery funding, but it contains very little of that. Instead, it takes away power from those three incoming Democratic statewide officials.

It shouldn't be a surprise that North Carolina is not the only state where GOP legislators have tried to take power away from their states’ Democratic governor. 

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Republicans tried to strip Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of his power to spend federal dollars by putting a measure on the August primary ballot that would have amended the state Constitution to require Legislative approval for federal funds. Voters rejected the effort in a 57.5%-42.5% vote.

In 2018, after Republicans lost the gubernatorial mansion in Wisconsin, Republicans stripped power from Evers and incoming Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul before they took office. The legislation took away Evers’ ability to remove work requirements for food stamps and health care, and tried to block Kaul’s ability to withdraw the state from a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act.  “It’s a power grab,” Democratic state Senator Jon Erpenbach told the New York Times at the time. “They lost and they’re throwing a fit.”

Republicans straight-up admitted the legislation was an effort to hamstring Evers’ ability to pass his agenda.  “We are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what many of us believe in,” state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at the time of what would happen if the power grab legislation didn’t pass. Of course, by limiting the governor from enacting policies, it would be ignoring voters’ will in choosing their top state executive.  That power grab was eventually overturned by the courts.

That same year, Michigan Republicans tried to strip power from then-incoming Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but failed when the outgoing GOP governor vetoed the effort.