Under the Dome podcast: What a new Senate Republican supermajority could mean for NC
On the newest episode of The News & Observer’s Under the Dome politics podcast for the week of Jan. 23, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan talks with former Republican Senate staffer Pat Ryan about what the supermajority could mean for North Carolina.
He also talks about his former boss, Senate leader Phil Berger. Ryan was Berger’s spokesperson for four years and left to start his own public relations firm.
Ryan describes the Senate as a “well-oiled machine,” with a lot of the same Republican senators in power for several years. Now that Republicans have “a supermajority, of course, the supermajority can do what it wants, without fear of being run off the road, so to speak, by a veto.”
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power isn’t as strong as it was for the past four years, before Republicans gained a Senate supermajority in 2022 and came within one vote of a supermajority in the House. Ryan said there was more behind-the-scenes compromise between Berger and Cooper with the previous dynamic.
“I don’t know necessarily that Gov. Cooper has changed, or that Sen. Berger has changed. I just think the political situations that they’re in result in different strategies for how to agree or fight,” Ryan said.
From abortion law to taxes, how NC lawmakers might change your life in 2023
Abortion legislation is top of mind for many people this legislative session, especially with the Republican supermajority.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that very restrictive abortion measures are probably a pretty big political liability,” Ryan said about what a Senate abortion bill might include, saying that even voters in Republican-majority states have rejected full abortion bans.
“So I think there’s probably recognition from the smarter political thinkers over there that, you know, this may be a battle that we won’t win if we go that extreme,” he said.
Listen to the podcast to hear more about what Ryan said about other Republican-written legislation moving, including medical marijuana and tax cuts. And hear what he says about Berger not wanting to get in front of his caucus, even though he leads it.
Stick until the end for Vaughan and Ryan’s picks for Headliner of the Week, which include a prominent elected official and hiring in the UNC System.
Listen to our latest episode below and catch up on previous episodes. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher.
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