Marijuana, redistricting and more: NC House leader shares vision for a new Democratic majority :: WRAL.com

RALEIGH — Democrats in the state House of Representatives are willing to work with Republicans on legislation that could lower costs for North Carolinians, even though leadership in the state Senate has not yet been determined, House Speaker-elect Robert Reives said Tuesday.

Democrats took control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 15 years in last week’s elections. Republicans have held majorities in both chambers since 2011, often holding enough seats during that time to easily pass many of their proposals — even over the objections of Democratic governors. This advantage has helped the Republican Party pass tax cuts, add limits on abortion, reduce gun restrictions, expand access to private schools, redraw congressional and legislative districts and much more.

Democrats won at least 66 of the House’s 120 seats in the Nov. 3 election. Some House seats were still too close to call Tuesday as officials began the process of counting provisional ballots.

Although recounts are possible in some of these elections, Reives said the election results show voters want policy changes. Democrats are poised to swear in the largest Democratic majority in the House of Representatives since 1992, he said. At the same time, Reives said, voters want to see action: not gridlock.

“Compromise is not capitulation. Compromise is the task,” Reives said.

He continued: “But make no mistake, we understand that Democrats won this chamber and we won it overwhelmingly. We have priorities that we want to see implemented. Many of these policies we have filed bills on for years just to see them ignored. We will make a strong case for the agenda that got us elected, which we believe is best for the people of this state, regardless of income, race, gender or gender. postal code.

Reives and Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said last week that Democrats hope to address rising costs for housing, electricity and health care. Education will also be a top priority, they said.

Whether Democrats can achieve their goals depends in part on who leads the state Senate, which remains unclear. Democrats flipped four Republican seats in the state Senate, leaving the GOP with 26 of the chamber’s 50 seats — and a contest in south-central North Carolina could ultimately decide which party takes control of the chamber.

Republican Sen. Danny Britt holds a 245-vote lead over Democratic challenger Catina Hamm in a district that covers Hoke, Robeson and Scotland counties. Local election officials still must review more than 650 provisional ballots, determine whether to accept them and then count them.

If Hamm wins, the chamber would be split 25-25, giving Democratic Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt the power to break the tie vote and Minority Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, would likely become the next Senate leader.

If Britt wins, Senate Republicans are expected to elect the chamber’s next leader. Longtime Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, lost his GOP primary in March to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Republican Senators Jim Burgin of Harnett County, Ralph Hise of Mitchell County, Brent Jackson of Sampson County and Todd Johnson of Union County have announced their intention to seek the leadership position.

On Tuesday, Reives discussed his relationship with the Senate, his caucus’ goals, and much more.

Medical Marijuana: Change in House leadership could open door to medical marijuana in North Carolina. The GOP-led state Senate has passed several bills in recent years to legalize medical marijuana under what sponsors said are the strictest rules in the nation, but the GOP-led state House has never allowed those bills to come up for a vote. A WRAL/WSOC poll released last month found that just 15 percent of North Carolina voters oppose medical marijuana and 74 percent want it legal — including majorities across all age groups, political parties, regions of the state and racial or ethnic demographic groups.

Reives said his caucus had expressed interest in decriminalizing marijuana: “Decriminalizing marijuana was at the forefront of everyone’s minds,” he said.

Reives added that he has personally seen how medicinal marijuana can help veterans.

“I have a veteran family,” he said. “My dad served. My uncle served, and all that. And it’s just I want everything we can to help our veterans, and that’s one of the main things people talk about.”

Private school vouchers: Democrats have long criticized a state program that provides tuition vouchers to North Carolina families who enroll their child in private school, and Reives said his caucus would seek to cancel it to save the state money. “It’s ridiculous that someone who makes millions of dollars gets a voucher from the state when we can’t afford public education,” Reives said.

The GOP-created Opportunity Scholarship program provides up to about $8,000 for the school year, depending on family income. It served about 107,000 students last year, at a cost of about $587 million. Stein called for phasing out the program, which began more than a decade ago as a program intended only for the state’s lowest-income residents who were not yet enrolled in a private school. Republican lawmakers opened the program to families of all incomes in 2024. Democratic proposals in recent years have largely focused on scaling back the Opportunity scholarship voucher program, rather than eliminating it.

“We have to recognize that our income is limited,” Reives said. He continued: “You have to have income, and (Republican lawmakers) have taken away so many sources of income and added so many fees that have made life unaffordable. So scholarships, school vouchers are in the same boat as everything else that we have.”

A withdrawal of the Opportunity Scholarship program would have the approval of many advocacy organizations that have long opposed the program’s expansion, in part because spending on the program represents money for them that could have been spent on public schools. “It’s a lot of money that’s being siphoned out of our public schools, which means public schools are deprived of having more staff in the building, resources like literal supplies, paper, pencils, books, curriculum, all of those things,” said Christina Cole, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.

But the program has support from other groups who warn that withdrawing from the program would result in a financial dilemma for some families. “We have to ask ourselves: How is this a victory for education in our state? said Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina. “Because it wouldn’t. Because it would unequivocally deprive 100,000 children whose families are happy with the education they’re getting. It’s going to disrupt that and they won’t know what to do.”

Approve a budget: Reives expressed optimism that a bipartisan deal could be reached on the state budget, even though the Senate is controlled by Republicans. State lawmakers typically approve an overall state spending plan every two years, in odd-numbered years. However, after approving a budget in 2023, Republican legislative leaders failed to reach consensus on a 2025 spending plan — citing disputes over tax rates, capital projects and more. Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall did not reach a tentative agreement until late June, with Stein signing it in July. Reives said he hoped the election results would spur Republicans toward a bipartisan solution.

“They can take the approach of, ‘Oh, we’ll take this whole thing back in 2028 and we’ll just be the party of no until then,’ which is not what North Carolinians or the United States voted for. Or (Republicans) can say, ‘This is the time where we can actually introduce real reforms,'” Reives said.

Redistricting reform: Democrats have called on Republican state lawmakers to pass redistricting reform, and Reives said his caucus would likely introduce legislation to do so.

States traditionally redraw electoral maps every 10 years, after the U.S. Census Bureau releases its decennial report on state populations. However, redistricting has occurred more frequently in North Carolina in recent years, either due to court mandates or because lawmakers redrew them voluntarily. Maps approved by the GOP-controlled North Carolina General Assembly in 2023 gave Republicans an advantage in the majority of congressional and legislative districts.

State lawmakers then changed the maps again last year to place more Republican voters in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis. It was part of a national effort by some Republican-led states to help maintain a majority in the House of Representatives. Democrats responded in some states they led by redistricting themselves. Davis was re-elected last week and Democrats took control of the House of Representatives.

“What I want is a permanent solution,” Reives said. “So any solution you see around independent redistricting is going to be something that the next Legislature can’t just throw out and go back to doing bad things.”