North Carolina GOP lawmakers override veto of bill to strip power from incoming Democratic officials

North Carolina Republican lawmakers voted to override a gubernatorial veto of a bill that strips the state’s incoming Democratic officials of key powers.

The GOP-led state House of Representatives on Wednesday voted along party lines to override outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of legislation that is ostensibly geared towards hurricane relief, but also weakens the authority of statewide offices Democrats won in last month’s election, including governor and attorney general.

The Republican-controlled state Senate voted to override Cooper’s veto last week, meaning the bill will now go into effect, though legal challenges are expected. Democrats have slammed it as a power grab as the GOP is on track to lose its legislative supermajority following the 2024 elections.

The measure notably shifts the authority to appoint members to North Carolina’s election board from the governor’s office, which will be held by Democrat Josh Stein next year, to the auditor’s office, which will be held by Republican Dave Boliek after he defeated incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes.

Republicans in North Carolina’s legislature have sought for years to gain control of the board, which oversees elections in the battleground state, but have had their efforts thwarted by the courts. Democrats currently hold a 3-2 advantage on the board.

Three state House Republicans from western North Carolina who voted against the bill originally supported the veto override on Wednesday, giving the party the three-fifths support in the chamber necessary to overrule Cooper.

One of those Republicans, state Rep. Mark Pless, said in an interview before Wednesday’s vote that he was disappointed the bill didn’t contain enough funding to help his constituents rebuild their communities after Hurricane Helene.

“I want my people taken care of in the mountains,” he told NBC News ahead of the vote. Of the bill, he said, “I just don’t think it does what we were told it would do.”

The 131-page bill moves $227 million into a hurricane relief fund while advancing a spate of other Republican priorities, including shortening the amount of time for voters to fix ballot errors and requiring counties to count ballots more rapidly.

The legislation will also prohibit the state attorney general from taking legal positions contrary to those of the Legislature.

That will prevent incoming Democratic Attorney General Jeff from refusing to defend laws the Legislature has passed, as Stein did with the state’s abortion law last year while holding the position.

The measure was written behind closed doors, introduced as a committee substitute that barred edits in committee, and passed through both Republican-controlled legislative chambers over just two days in November.

“The bill, to be clear, is a power grab, not disaster relief,” Stein said at a Democratic Governors Association meeting last weekend in California. “It’s petty and wrong headed.”

In a statement, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison called the move “wrong, disgusting, and emblematic of the Republican Party — desperate attempts to consolidate power at all costs instead of trying to better North Carolinians’ lives.”