North Carolina legislative Democrats set to break GOP supermajority
Democrats are on their way to breaking Republicans’ supermajority in the North Carolina state House, meaning that the legislature won’t be able to override the Democratic governor’s vetoes. Prior to tonight, Republicans occupied at least 60% of North Carolina’s legislative seats. This gave the party the power to override gubernatorial vetoes if they voted as a bloc, and was massively important for Republicans as the state’s outgoing governor, Roy Cooper, is a Democrat. After tonight, Republicans will still represent the majority of lawmakers in the state’s legislature — but the party is likely to lose its supermajority. That’s because, in House District 24, Democrat Dante Pittman is leading incumbent Republican Rep. Ken Fontenot. If that trend continues then, come January, Republicans will no longer have the power to override gubernatorial vetoes; this could force the party to negotiate with Governor-elect Josh Stein in order to pass their priorities.