North Carolina’s dangerous new supermajority 

North Carolina is generally regarded as a ‘purple’ state and has been one of the nation’s most competitive states in the past four presidential elections. The state has a near-even mix of Democratic and Republican voters, however, this isn’t reflected in the North Carolina General Assembly. As a result of Democratic state representative Tricia Cotham switching parties last Wednesday, Republicans now hold a supermajority in both chambers of the assembly, which effectively gives them control over the state and could send North Carolina down a hard-right path.  

For context, having a supermajority means that Republicans hold 60% of the seats in both the state house of representatives and state senate. Having this supermajority allows the legislature to overturn the veto of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Since taking office in 2017, Cooper and the Republican-controlled legislature have been at odds with each other, as he has vetoed 75 bills from the legislature, which is more than any other current governor has issued in the past six years. Cooper has been able to hold onto this veto power since North Carolina Republicans came up short in legislative elections in 2020 and 2022. But as a result of Cotham’s party switch, Cooper has been rendered powerless by the supermajority, which can now pass any legislation they want since they have the votes to overturn Cooper’s veto. Cooper can now only watch as the state assembly assumes full control of lawmaking in North Carolina.  

Armed with newfound power, state Republicans have already spun into action by introducing legislation targeting transgender residents of the state in order to further fuel the culture wars that the GOP loves to take part in and continue the legacy of Pat McCrory’s “bathroom bill.” This is only the tip of the iceberg of the damage that the supermajority will inflict on the state. One of the most controversial issues that will likely be tackled is abortion rights. Currently, abortion is legal through 20 weeks of pregnancy in North Carolina, which sets it above other Southern states that have more restrictive laws or total abortion bans. Even though the abortion debate arguably helped Democrats in the 2022 midterms, North Carolina Republicans will likely still pursue a more restrictive abortion ban for the state in order to ‘fulfill God’s wishes’ or some other nonsensical religious justification. The extent of how far the supermajority would go in restricting abortion is unclear at the moment, but given that they have full control of lawmaking in the state, a bill similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act would be a very likely outcome. If this turns out to be the case, women in North Carolina should direct their fury towards Tricia Cotham for allowing a male-led supermajority to pass legislation that takes away their reproductive rights.  

North Carolina’s congressional district map is another issue that the new supermajority will likely target. After the assembly’s initial map — which was an egregious gerrymander — got struck down last year, a fair map was put in place that has created an even 7-7 delegation of Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives. The legislature already holds full control of the redistricting process in the state, and having a supermajority cements this control. If the current map gets struck down, which may be imminent, the assembly would get to draw a new map. This would likely result in another extensive gerrymander that would give Republicans as many as 11 out of 14 seats, leaving Democrats with only three. An 11-3 delegation doesn’t come close to accurately representing the competitive politics of North Carolina and massively reduces the power of Democratic voters in the state.  

What makes the supermajority especially dangerous is that the North Carolina Supreme Court will likely uphold most, if not all of the assembly’s legislation. The previously Democratic-controlled court now has a 5-2 Republican majority, which is also a supermajority. This gives the assembly a rubber stamp of approval to pass any legislation without fear of it being struck down easily, as any attempts to overturn the assembly’s legislation would require two judges to cross party lines. Though many of the assembly’s new extreme legislation will be challenged, it will prove to be unsuccessful thanks to a supermajority on the court.  

So thanks to one member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Republicans have full control of the state while Roy Cooper can do nothing to stop them. It’s a shame that one of the country’s most competitive states is fully controlled by one party on the statewide level. If Democrats want to keep North Carolina’s status as a purple state, they better figure something out fast before it becomes Florida 2.0.