NC Democrats will have more power next year, but must first face a GOP-controlled lame duck session

Next year, North Carolina Democrats will have more political power than they’ve had since 2010, with a commanding majority in the House and the governorship.

As anticipated, Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, who has led the House Democrats since 2021, announced he would seek the House speakership. 

“I will be running for Speaker of the House and will seek the support of my caucus at our organizational meeting and the support of the full House on January 13,” Reives said in a statement. 

He thanked candidates who agreed to run, and vowed, “Democrats will fight for the policies that put us in this position.”

Though the House will vote on House Speaker candidates next year,  Gov. Josh Stein and state Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton are already referring to Reives as “Speaker-elect.”

House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, congratulated Reives and the Democratic House caucus on Tuesday night, saying he looked forward to working with Reives when Democrats take control of the House. 

Unofficial results show Democrats winning 71 seats to Republicans’ 48, with one unaffiliated winner. In five districts, the leader appears to have won by less than 1 point, placing those races in recount territory. 

After years pushing back against policies they oppose, House Democrats will have the chance to set the agenda. 

Over the years, Democrats have voted against rollbacks of environmental protections, Republican power grabs, and mandatory law enforcement cooperation with ICE, among other policies. 

Are limits on private school vouchers possible?

One issue that unites returning veterans and newly-elected Democrats is the position that public school funding is too low.

In a news release Tuesday night, the N.C. Association of Educators cheered the Democrats’ new House majority. 

“North Carolina voters sent a clear message: our public schools are not for sale,” NCAE President Christina Cole said in a statement. “For years, legislative leaders have handed out corporate tax cuts and private school vouchers while our classrooms went without.”

NCAE will hold every legislator accountable for fully funding public schools, the statement said. 

In recent years, House Democrats have denounced the expansion of the state’s private school voucher program. Over time, Republicans erased income caps on vouchers, so well-off families now receive taxpayer subsidies for private school tuition. 

At a news conference today, Stein said spending on vouchers should be up for discussion next year. Stein says he supports parents who think private schools are best for their children, but he says the state doesn’t have enough money to pay for a universal voucher program and properly fund public schools at the same time. 

“Do we really want these scarce dollars for education to go away from a public school kid, taken out of that public school kid’s backpack, and put into the bank account of somebody who’s doing pretty well, sending their child to an unaccountable private school, whose child was never in public school?” he asked. 

“We don’t have enough dollars invested in public education today to be taking $750 million a year away. We’re 50th in the nation in terms of what we invest on a per-child basis in our public schools. That’s an embarrassment.”

The state budget for vouchers is set to increase from $700 million next year to $825 million in 2032.

A last meeting before the GOP loses control of the House 

Before Democrats take control of the House, Republicans are set to return to Raleigh for a lame duck session. 

In past lame duck sessions, Republicans stripped power from Democratic governors and other Democratic officials.

Democrats appear to win the NC House majority and gain seats in the Senate

For example, in December 2024, knowing that House Republicans would lose their supermajority in a month and Stein was preparing to move into the Executive Mansion, the legislature transferred power to appoint the state Board of Elections from Stein to Republican Auditor-elect Dave Boliek. 

In December 2016, after Roy Cooper won the governorship, the legislature passed a law expanding the state Board of Elections and limiting Cooper’s appointments to the board. That law was invalidated by state courts. 

Another law passed during the 2016 lame duck session reduced political appointee positions in cabinet departments from 1,500 to 300, limiting the jobs Cooper and his department heads controlled. That bill also required the state Senate to confirm the governor’s cabinet appointees. Republicans had won supermajorities in both chambers in the 2016 elections. 

Stein said Wednesday that he didn’t know what bills Republicans have planned for Nov. 16, when the legislature is scheduled to return. 

“If they do come back, what they need to do is learn the lesson of the election last night, which is don’t do politics, don’t engage in gamesmanship,” Stein advised. “Focus on issues that make a difference, whether it’s driving down costs that families are experiencing or whether it’s keeping people safe.”