NC Legislative Races: Sharp divisions on abortion, economy

RALEIGH, North Carolina

With abortion restrictions, looser gun rules and deeper tax cuts likely in the balance, North Carolina Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper are battling in the trenches of the campaign to find out which political program will prevail in Cooper’s last two years in office.

Democrats and their Cooper-led allies are trying to prevent Republicans next month from holding veto-proof majorities for the first time since late 2018. Cooper was then often powerless to block legislation except through ‘litigation.

As in other divided-government states following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion figures prominently in several key General Assembly races. With enough Democratic lawmakers behind the governor, Cooper’s vetoes foiled abortion-limited changes approved by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2019 and 2021.

Republican leaders are ready to consider additional restrictions on abortion next year, but say there is no consensus on the specifics yet. That uncertainty and the slight electoral adjustment Republicans need — three more House seats and two in the Senate to regain veto-proof majorities — are fueling the Democratic campaign narratives.

“In North Carolina, women still have the freedom to procreate,” Cooper said at a recent event with Democratic legislative candidates. “And as governor, I aim for that to continue. But I can’t do it alone – I have to have a number in the legislature who would be willing to support me.

Republican leaders, who downplayed the abortion issue during the fall campaign, are optimistic that those thresholds will be met.

They say voters are focused on the national economy and inflation’s 40-year highs under President Joe Biden. GOP candidates are running ads blaming Washington for the price hikes and talking about what Raleigh Republicans have done to counter them, like cutting income taxes.

“This becomes a national election just as much as an election for the State House or the State Senate,” said Representative Jason Saine of Lincoln County, a leader of the House Republican Caucus, and the GOP legislative candidates “end up being the beneficiaries”.

Political consultants and lawmakers from both parties expect the results of about 15 key races to make the difference on all 170 General Assembly voter lists. Cooper is limited in time to seek re-election in 2024.

“We’re all fighting here,” said Rep. Linda Cooper-Suggs, a Wilson County Democrat facing a tough challenge from Republican Ken Fontenot.

In 2017 and 2018, Republicans with anti-veto majorities overruled 23 of Cooper’s 28 vetoes. None of the governor’s 47 vetoes have since been overturned.

Democrats credit Cooper’s veto stamp with bringing Republicans to the negotiating table, contributing to recent successes in economic development and clean energy.

“It is essential that a certain balance remains in each chamber for this to happen,” said House Minority Leader Robert Reives of Chatham County.

Cooper said the “worst impulses of the GOP can’t be stopped” if he gains too much power. But Senate Leader Phil Berger said a supermajority actually protects the state from Cooper’s bad decisions. Berger has vetoed bills that would have raised teachers’ salaries and guaranteed that July 4 fireworks and parades could take place in 2020 during the pandemic.

Berger said the GOP agenda under a veto-proof majority would not be much different from the past four years.

“We will continue to push to reduce our tax rates. We will continue to push to resolve regulatory issues,” Berger said. “We will continue to push to remedy the catastrophic situation in our education system, where our children are not learning to read.”

Other approved laws that Cooper successfully vetoed could make a comeback — like bills requiring county sheriffs to help federal immigration officers who want to detain detainees, eliminating gun purchase permits and advancing the dates by which completed absentee ballots must be received.

North Carolina law prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies of a pregnant woman. This makes North Carolina a place for women from nearby more restrictive states seeking surgery.

The Supreme Court ruling contributed to an increase in political activity in support of abortion rights. Planned Parenthood’s political arm is campaigning in 14 legislative races with a $5 million spending in the North Carolina election.

In the 18th Senate District, which includes part of Wake County and all of Granville County, Democratic attorney Mary Wills Bode and Republican real estate investor EC Sykes are running for an open seat.

During last month’s press conference with Cooper, Bode accused Sykes of wanting to “ban reproductive health care in our state in all situations, under all circumstances, without exception.”

Sykes said in an interview that he believes in exceptions for rape and incest, but thinks North Carolina’s abortion law shouldn’t “be more liberal than our neighboring states.”

Sykes added that “the issues and concerns I hear about are the economy and jobs, what happens to their incomes.”

Cooper-Suggs and Fontenot said abortion is not the predominant issue in their rural 24th House District race — people there are more conservative and the influence of churches remains strong.

Cooper-Suggs has received endorsements from abortion rights groups. Fontenot, an anti-abortion church pastor, narrowly lost to Cooper-Suggs’ Democratic predecessor in 2018 as an unaffiliated candidate.

Fontenot said changes to welfare programs he wants would encourage families to stay intact and discourage abortions. He said he wanted to get elected “to update a lot of the policies that we have in place that I think can help our ordinary citizens.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2022 7:42 a.m.