THE OPPORTUNITY

In 2022, The States Project worked in the North Carolina State House to prevent a rightwing supermajority. This would have protected Governor Roy Cooper’s veto power against a radical rightwing agenda that included abortion bans and anti-voter policies. We prevented the supermajority by a single seat.

However, in April 2023 — after promising voters that she would protect abortion, prevent rollbacks on the rights of LGBTQ+ North Carolinians, and advocate for gun safety — Rep. Tricia Cotham, who won a safe Democratic seat in the 2022 election, single-handedly reversed that victory. She joined the rightwing to create a supermajority in the House, disregarding the will of the voters who elected her, and overriding Governor Cooper’s veto power on critical issues.

In 2024, TSP is aiming to break the supermajority in the House. This year, there will be millions of dollars spent on the governor’s race to defeat the extreme rightwing nominee Mark Robinson. But even if that effort is successful, we have to end the supermajority to ensure a governor’s veto would matter in blocking harmful laws. To achieve our goal, we’re aiming to net at least one additional seat in the House or one in the Senate.

THE STAKES

During the 2023 legislative session, the rightwing supermajority overrode Governor Cooper’s veto 19 times to enact extreme and unpopular policies, including:

• An abortion ban that severely restricts access for 2.4 million North Carolinians of reproductive age.
• Anti-voter laws, including shortening the amount of time voters have to return an absentee ballot.
• Eliminating widely popular background checks on gun sales, making communities less safe.

There will also be a gubernatorial election in North Carolina in 2024. Ending the rightwing supermajority by flipping one seat in either chamber is the only way to ensure a governor’s veto would actually matter in blocking harmful laws.

THE LANDSCAPE

In 2023, the newly rightwing North Carolina State Supreme Court reversed its previous decision and allowed gerrymandered maps to be enacted. There is no longer a path to winning a majority but there are paths to preventing a supermajority. Ending the supermajority in the House came down to just 315 votes in 2022 — and every district we targeted was a tight race. 

To achieve our goal of breaking the rightwing supermajority in the House or Senate, we need to net at least one additional seat in either chamber, which means holding every seat we have plus flipping one more.

• We needed to prevent a supermajority in one chamber to protect Governor Roy Cooper’s veto power, and selected the North Carolina State House.
• We were able to hold off a supermajority in the North Carolina House by one seat until Rep. Tricia Cotham, who won a safe Democratic seat, went back on her promises to her voters and joined the rightwing majority.

• Two new districts gained in the House kept the supermajority out of reach of the radical right by just three seats.
• Eight TSP-supported incumbent state representatives were re-elected to Raleigh by margins as narrow as 5 percent.
• In the Senate, two candidates we supported won new seats. They added a seat for the minority and prevented a supermajority in the Senate by just two seats.

• In TSP’s first election in North Carolina, we helped to break the supermajority in the House of Representatives to help provide Governor Roy Cooper with an effective veto.
• The House minority gained nine seats as 12 candidates we supported were elected to the chamber.