Wake will pick commissioners by district under new law, possibly boosting GOP representation on board

The General Assembly finalized changes to Wake County Board of Commissioners elections Tuesday.

Right now all seven commissioners are elected countywide, even though they must live in separate districts. House Bill 99 moves to district elections, meaning only voters who live in a given district can vote for their district’s commissioner.

Starting in 2026, the bill also adds two more commissioners who'd run countywide, growing the board to nine seats.

This will give Republicans a better chance of being on the board. More registered Republicans live in Wake County than in any other county in North Carolina, but because they’re outnumbered by Democrats countywide, the county board has a 7-0 Democratic majority.

The measure was once controversial, but after some compromise it won bipartisan support. It passed the North Carolina House of Representatives 117-0 in March and cleared the Senate on a voice vote Tuesday with no audible no votes.

Because it is a local bill that doesn’t apply statewide, the measure doesn’t require Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature to become law.

The effort was sponsored by state Rep. Erin Pare, the only Republican state lawmaker from Wake County.

The bill was one of several the state Senate approved Tuesday tinkering with local government elections in various counties around the state.

DEI bill

Also Tuesday, the Senate passed changes to state personnel laws that would prohibit hiring managers from pressing job applicants to opine on politics and culture, a move aimed at limiting social justice efforts in government hiring, including at state universities.

Senate Bill 364 also adds similar rules limiting state government employee training programs. The measure is broadly worded, but backers have been clear it’s a pushback against a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, including a handful of cases where job applicants have been asked to submit statements on the importance of diversity or their commitment to anti-racism.

Republican bill sponsors have said the bill is needed because the government shouldn’t force people to have certain viewpoints to get a government job. A number of Democrats have argued that the bill’s language is unconstitutionally vague.

The bill heads to Cooper, who can let it become law or veto it. The measure passed the House last week on a party-line vote. Three Democrats voted for it in the Senate Tuesday: Mary Wills Bode, D-Wake, Sydney Batch, D-Wake, and Kandie Smith, D-Pitt.

Power shift

The Senate also voted Tuesday to continue negotiations with the House over a bill that would shift appointment decisions on a number of important state boards away from the governor.

Senate Bill 512, which has divided the legislature along party lines, has passed both the House and Senate, but with several key differences.

Republican leaders are expected to negotiate away those differences in the coming weeks and finalize the bill. Cooper is likely to veto the bill, but Republican lawmakers have the votes they need to overturn a veto.

If it becomes law, the bill is likely to spark a lawsuit over the separation of powers in North Carolina state government.

WRAL State Government Editor Jack Hagel contributed to this report.

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