New leaders, new problems: Top 2025 stories to watch in NC politics
North Carolina’s 2025 legislative session will bring a host of new leaders to Raleigh — including a new governor, a new House Speaker and a new Senate minority leader — as they wrestle with new issues and revisit years-old disputes.
The overall dynamics remain the same as they’ve been for nearly a decade now: The governor is still a Democrat, and Republicans still control the legislature. But with new faces in many top state government roles, plus the switch in national politics to unified GOP control of the presidency and U.S. Congress, new priorities will likely emerge as state lawmakers return to session in just a few months.
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Helene relief aid, immigration, medical marijuana, health care industry reforms and immigration are among the topics that could grab attention.
Lawmakers will also have to nail down a new state budget, which could come with added pressure since they failed to pass a budget in 2024.
As politics become increasingly nationalized, the state legislature is also likely to consider new bills reacting to ideas promoted by President-elect Donald Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk or other national conservative leaders.
Finally, there’s the interplay between the legislative and executive branches. That doesn’t only include new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. The majority of the 10-member Council of State — the elected officials who lead North Carolina’s executive branch — are brand new. So how they work with or against state lawmakers will be closely watched, particularly for two incoming Democrats in high-profile roles: Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green.
Fights between governor, legislature
There will always be some tension between politicians of different parties. But there are also opportunities for cooperation if the Democratic governor and Republican legislature can put aside their differences.
Before Stein even took office, the legislature passed a new law stripping more power away from the governor’s office. That was the continuation of a trend that began under former Gov. Roy Cooper before him. Stein has since sued over that new law, saying multiple parts of it are unconstitutional.
But while he fights with the legislature in court, Stein also extended an olive branch in his first official act as governor. Stein was sworn in Jan. 1 and on Jan. 2 traveled to Asheville to announce new executive orders focused on Helene relief aid, where he brought multiple Republican lawmakers from western North Carolina on stage with him. He also appointed one of them, Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon), as co-chair of a new committee Stein created to advise the governor’s office on Helene recovery needs.
More bipartisanship?
Democrats appear to have broken Republicans’ veto-proof supermajority in the state House by winning several seats in pro-Trump districts. The result isn’t final yet, due to an ongoing lawsuit by the North Carolina Republican Party that seeks to disqualify the ballots of tens of thousands of voters. But if the results hold, then breaking the supermajority will give Stein and Democratic legislators more leverage to negotiate deals.
If Stein’s veto is seen as a real threat, then GOP lawmakers could be forced to work with him, or with enough individual Democratic lawmakers to come up with legislation that would either avoid or survive a veto. That dynamic would likely be most obvious during budget negotiations. In recent years Democrats have called for more spending on public schools and state employee raises, while Republicans have instead preferred cutting taxes and boosting state funding for private schools.
Helene relief
Responding to the damage from Helene could be the best opportunity for bipartisanship at the legislature. All lawmakers agree the state needs to help western North Carolina recover.
But the devil is in the details. The Helene aid debates in late 2024 already broke down into partisan disagreements over how much to spend, and whether the aid should be given freely or as loans, and 2025 could bring more of the same types of debate.
Cooper called for nearly $4 billion in state aid for Helene; the legislature has so far spent only a small fraction of that amount. Democratic legislators have also said they weren’t invited to high-level discussions about past Helene relief bills, and hope that will change in the new year. GOP leaders have said they will pass more aid, but that people should expect recovery efforts to be measured in years, not months.
Immigration
Immigration could also require attention at the legislature. Trump has pledged a mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally, and some conservatives are also now pushing to reduce the number of visas given for immigrants to work here legally. Either strategy would disrupt the local economy and potentially drive up inflation: Approximately 1 million immigrants live in North Carolina, many of them employed in large industries such as agriculture, construction, tech and health care.
The GOP is becoming increasingly torn between more populist voters in the party base and pro-business interests among the major party donors — and the question of how to handle immigration is just one area in which 2025 could bring clashes between those opposing factions.
New leadership
For the first time in a decade, there will be a new Speaker of the House in North Carolina. Former Speaker Tim Moore is in D.C. now, having won election to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Taking the reins will be Rep. Destin Hall, a 37-year-old Caldwell County Republican who graduated from law school in 2014, ran for office in 2016 and has been steadily climbing the ranks of the General Assembly ever since. Hall has made an impact despite his youth — no small feat in a state legislature where many politicians are of retirement age.
He has been among a small group of politicians in charge of redistricting and most recently served as chairman of the powerful House Rules committee, taking over for former Rep. David Lewis (R-Harnett) who resigned just before pleading guilty to taking campaign donors’ money for personal use. While that scandal shook the state GOP, it also provided an opening for Hall to build relationships and hone his leadership skills before now rising to the top job.
Senate Democrats also opted for new, younger leadership — deciding after the 2024 elections to oust 75-year-old Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake) from the top job and elevate 45-year-old Sen. Sydney Batch (D-Wake) as the new head of the opposition.
Budget uncertainty
Republicans failed to pass a budget in 2024, and that was with a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. They did eventually pass a separate bill appropriating funds for their top priority — a large expansion of state-funded private school tuition vouchers — but their deadlock on a broader budget plan might not bode well for the 2025 budget process, particularly if they also have to contend with a possible veto by Stein.
Health care
Health care will be another big topic. In recent years nurses have pushed for new laws allowing them to do more types of work without a doctor’s supervision, and free-market advocates have pushed for new laws allowing for more competition between hospitals and other health care industry businesses. Both those efforts have repeatedly failed in the face of lobbying from associations representing doctors and hospitals, but 2025 is likely to see both fights reemerge in the legislature.
Also, if national Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act — an effort that barely failed during Trump’s first term in office — or if they even just make tweaks such as lowering spending on programs like Medicaid, then hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians could lose their health insurance. State lawmakers would then have to decide whether to let that happen, or whether to jump in with additional state funding.
Political posturing
The leadup to the 2024 elections saw the legislature pass a slew of new laws focused on transgender minors and opposition to “diversity, equity and inclusion” rules in state government, as they heard complaints about those issues from conservative voters around the state.
It remains to be seen what issues might similarly gain political traction in the leadup to the 2026 midterms — when U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) will be up for reelection. WRAL previously reported that national experts expect it to be the country’s most competitive U.S. Senate race next year.
Medical marijuana
Proposals to legalize medical marijuana as a prescription option for people with cancer, PTSD, sickle cell anemia and other ailments have passed the state Senate multiple times in recent years — with broad bipartisan support — but have been killed each time by House leadership. The idea has the numbers to pass if allowed up for a vote in the House. But Moore never allowed it to be voted on, saying he wasn’t sure it had the support of most Republicans in his chamber.
And while 2025 will bring a new House Speaker, it will also bring new members in general. Assuming the Senate passes the bill yet again, advocates will be watching closely for any signs of shifting stances among House Republicans.
Most states have already legalized medical marijuana. Polling has shown for years that a small majority of North Carolinians favor fully legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and large majorities favor medical marijuana legalization. But it remains deeply opposed by conservative Christian groups that are influential in Republican Party primaries.
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