Yahoo Autos Supermajorities and the future of bipartisanship in NC
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Happy Friday!
I’m Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, the most recent addition to The News & Observer’s state politics team, debuting on the Under the Dome newsletter today! While our team is growing, I find there’s so much political news to cover in North Carolina and many places to be, so we’re often all hands on deck.
This week was no exception, with Monday starting off strong with The N&O’s and NC Insider’s second “Politics at the Pub” event. The event, which sold out, was hosted at The Raleigh Times and featured an engaging and open Q&A with two state representatives, Republican House Deputy Conference Chair Jason Saine and House Democratic Leader Robert Reives.
A large portion of the conversation centered on what would happen if the Republicans took veto-proof control of the North Carolina legislature in the upcoming midterm elections and what that would mean for the future of bipartisanship.
“I can tell you I know that Rep. Saine would like a supermajority, I will tell you, I wouldn’t be interested,” said Reives, getting some laughter from the audience.
“There have been really good ideas that are coming from the Republican side, there are really good ideas that come from the Democratic side. Having to talk with each other to find a compromise point is how you come up with the legislation,” Reives said.
Saine concurred: “You can take the partisans on both sides to the extremes. But there’s a big middle in the state … most of the families just want to provide a good life for their family. Bottom line, they don’t really care about Republicans, Democrats.”
Despite talk of middle-ground politics, stalemates remain a common theme in NC politics. Here’s a look at some of them:
In unsurprising news, the Medicaid expansion saga continues. This time, reporters Lars Dolder and Will Doran tell us NC Senate leader Phil Berger confirmed to them he was not happy with a proposal from the North Carolina Healthcare Association. A main sticking point in Medicaid expansion has been amendments to North Carolina’s obscure certificate of need law.
Another stalemate, this time on the U.S. House and Senate level. Danielle Battaglia tells us that North Carolina’s congressional delegation is divided on the Electoral Count Act, a bill aimed at stopping another attempt to overturn a presidential election.
MORE FROM THE TEAM
Reporter Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan explains that North Carolinians whose student loans will be forgiven by the federal government will still have to pay state taxes on the money they would have paid. Read about why the legislature won’t end this tax.
Shifting once more to the federal level, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, the Republican candidate for Senate, made the news for failing to state whether he’d accept the results of the 2022 election, first to The New York Times, The Washington Post and in an N&O follow up. Later, following public pressure, he implied to WRAL he’d accept the results, saying, “why wouldn’t I?” Read my story.
Budd also debuted this week on a billboard hung up in Wilmington by the North Carolina Democratic Party. Be sure to read Danielle’s story about the billboard.
FOLLOW OUR COVERAGE
Be sure to tune into our coverage today of Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Aero Center in Wilmington, where the former president is expected to campaign for Budd, along with other candidates he has endorsed. I’ll be there on the ground. In case you missed it, be sure to also check out the N&O’s primer for the rally.
Finally, read our stories (which live on our Under the Dome page), our tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast.
With that I take my leave. Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!
-By Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, reporter for The News &Observer. Email me at lperezu@newsobserver.com.
