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The divided state’s new Democratic governor vetoed 14 bills this session, on guns, immigration, trans rights and more. Republicans are trying to enact them all anyway.
July 29, 2025, 5:42 p.m. ET
It was only one vote. But by flipping a seat in the State House last fall, Democrats in North Carolina managed to break, just barely, a Republican supermajority that had allowed conservatives to dominate the state legislature for two years.
With Josh Stein, a Democrat, in the governor’s mansion, it appeared his party would now have the chance to slow Republicans’ stampeding approach to lawmaking, which included enacting a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and power grabs that made the governor’s office weaker.
But one vote has proved to be too thin a margin, at least on some issues. Republican lawmakers on Tuesday overrode eight vetoes that Mr. Stein had issued during this legislative session, on issues from education to guns, in some cases by picking up a single Democratic defector.
On Wednesday, Republicans planned to try pushing through six more bills over the governor’s veto, including on some issues where voters are deeply divided, such as allowing adults to carry concealed handguns without a permit.
The override effort comes at a moment when Democrats in North Carolina and elsewhere are searching for a path forward after a loss of power in Washington. Though the state’s electorate is fairly split, Republicans have largely dominated the legislature over the past decade and increased the party’s seats in Congress by gerrymandering.
The state’s Supreme Court, also dominated by conservatives, has upheld the skewed district maps giving Republicans a near lock on the General Assembly. Breaking the party’s supermajority put a dent in the Republican armor, but has done little to force compromise.
