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For the first time, one NC political party may put more women than men in a legislative chamber

Gov. Roy Cooper says Democrats may elect more women than men to the NC Senate. He also told reporters Tuesday that he wants more national money for Senate candidate Cheri Beasley's campaign.

Posted Updated
Vote; election
By
Travis Fain
, WRAL state government reporter

If Democrats capture the state legislative races they think they can win next month, the party will have more women than men in the state Senate, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

That would be a first, based on General Assembly library records that go back to 1921.

“There are strong women who are running and challenging in these races,” Cooper said Tuesday, in a routine interview with reporters after his monthly Council of State meeting.

Cooper also called on national Democrats to spend more money on Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley’s tight U.S. Senate race against Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd. The governor promised assistance to Hurricane ravaged parts of Florida, and he pressed his party’s case in the coming state legislative elections, saying the balance of a Republican controlled General Assembly and a Democratic governor able to veto GOP bills has “made this state great.”

Currently there are 16 women, of any political party, in the 50-member state Senate, a high water mark for the body. Ten of them are Democrats, the other six Republicans. The chamber has 12 male Democrats and 22 Republican men.

Democrats nominated women in a number of key races this year, including Sen. Sydney Batch and local attorney Mary Wills Bode in Wake County. If Democrats can win 21 seats—just enough to block a GOP supermajority in the Senate and protect Cooper’s veto—a dozen of those seats will be held by women, according to Morgan Jackson, a political consultant for Cooper and other top North Carolina Democrats.

If Democrats get to 22 seats, thirteen will be held by women.

“There’s never been a caucus on either side of the aisle that had a majority [of women] in either chamber,” Jackson said Tuesday.

Caucus directors for House and Senate Republicans didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other topics Cooper covered Tuesday:

U.S. Senate race. Like other North Carolina Democrats, Cooper called on the national party to boost spending in Beasley’s U.S. Senate race, which a WRAL News poll shows as a statistical dead heat.

“I hope that they would,” said Cooper, who heads the Democratic Governors Association, giving him access to major party donors and making him a decision maker at the national level.

“Her background as a judge gives her an extraordinary perspective,” Cooper said of Beasley, a former state Supreme Court chief justice. “I do believe she has a good chance of winning the Senate seat, and so I hope they will invest as many resources as they can.”

In response, Budd campaign spokesman Jonathan Felts said in a text message that Democrats “wasted a lot of money in NC in ’14, ’16 and ’20, with nothing to show for it.” Those years saw Republican victories, and North Carolina hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since late Sen. Kay Hagan won in 2008.

“If they spend heavy here again this year, they’ll still have nothing to show for it,” Felts said.

Legislative races. Cooper acknowledged that Democrats are “on the defensive” in General Assembly races, with no chance of winning majorities in the House or Senate.

“The issue is going to be whether there are enough Democrats elected in the legislature to sustain my veto and to hold the line,” he said.

As he has before, Cooper promised to veto Republican bills increasing abortion limits, as well as various social issue bills that are more likely to emerge if voters give Republicans a supermajority.

“I hope that we can maintain that number so we keep the balance that has made this state great,” Cooper said. “I think there’s no question that the push and pull, and the requirement of negotiation and the work to achieve consensus, is important. And if we have a Republican supermajority legislature, that will be largely gone.”

Credit to Republicans? Asked whether legislative Republicans deserve some credit for North Carolina’s run of success—the state was named the No. 1 state for business this summer by news channel CNBC—Cooper said they do.

“I don’t think there’s any question that all of us together in this state have contributed to the success,” he said. “But the problem comes when you have a supermajority and their worst impulses can’t be stopped.”

Spokespeople for GOP legislative leaders didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Local races. Cooper is a Raleigh resident, so there are three bonds on his ballot this year: One for Wake County schools, one for Wake Technical Community College and a city-only referendum for a parks bond. Cooper was asked how he’ll vote on the three bonds, and who he’ll vote for in the Wake County district attorney’s race.

“I’m going to vote for Democrats and I’m going to vote for bonds,” he said.

There has been some tension lately between Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, a Democrat, and other state Democrats because her office is investigating Attorney General Josh Stein, who is expected to be the party’s leading candidate for governor in 2024, over the veracity of a 2020 campaign ad.
Hurricane Ian. Cooper said North Carolina has “logistics people” in Florida responding to the devastation of Hurricane Ian, and there’s a standing offer to send more help.

“They told us that they have enough help now, in the next couple of weeks on search and rescue,” Cooper said. “But there is no question that they will need additional help because teams need to roll in and out of there. So we’ve provided assistance to them that they know that they can take advantage of.”

During Tuesday’s Council of State meeting, which is a monthly gathering of statewide elected officials, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said the remnants of Ian generated 888 insurance loss claims around the state. About 375 of those were along the coast, and the hardest-hit county was Brunswick, with 267 claims, he said.