In 2024, we needed to win just one seat in either North Carolina chamber to break the rightwing supermajority in the legislature. And together, despite the state voting for Trump, TSP’s community helped break the supermajority in the State House, giving Governor Josh Stein his veto power! The tipping point seat came down to just 114 votes.

When the rightwing held the supermajority during the 2023 legislative session, they used their governing power to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto 19 times. Rightwing lawmakers severely restricted abortion access for 2.4 million North Carolinians of reproductive age, made it more difficult for voters to cast a ballot, made communities less safe by eliminating widely popular background checks on gun sales, and more.

Governor Josh Stein will have the power to veto harmful policies, including extreme restrictions on abortion access, attacks on voting, and rollbacks on clean air and water. That veto power will be crucial during Trump’s second presidency.

We helped to break the supermajority in the House to reinstate Governor Josh Stein’s veto power. If 114 votes in the tipping-point district had changed, the supermajority would not have been broken.

The close partnership we built with both former Governor Roy Cooper and  Governor Josh Stein was a major key to our success this cycle. Both Cooper and Stein understood that breaking the supermajority to restore the governor’s veto was essential, and they saw TSP as a crucial partner in achieving this goal. 

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.