Gov. Stein takes office playing defense, but GOP overreach may boost his support | Opinion

It’s a measure of how strained and strange the politics of North Carolina have become that Josh Stein became governor this week with virtually no political momentum.

On paper, Stein should be a rising force. He defeated his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, by nearly 15 points and he’s riding a Democratic dominance of the state’s highest office in which his party has won eight of the last nine gubernatorial elections.

Beyond those numbers, Stein brings an impressive life story and record of achievement to his new role as the state’s 76th governor. He’s a graduate of Dartmouth with a Harvard law degree and a former state senator and two-term attorney general who fought for consumers and won major settlements for North Carolina.

Yet Stein begins his leadership on his back foot. He’s already in court fighting the Republican-controlled legislature’s attempt to strip him of key powers. In the General Assembly, he will need every Democratic vote to prevent the override of his vetoes.

At his swearing-in Wednesday, Stein made a laudable but seemingly doomed call for progress.

“The time is now to build a safer, stronger North Carolina, where our economy continues to grow and works for everyone; where our public schools are excellent and our teachers are well paid; where our neighborhoods are safe and our personal freedoms are protected,” he said.

Republican lawmakers may go along on public safety measures, but supporting excellent public schools, paying teachers well and protecting personal freedoms are not on their list and haven’t been since the GOP took complete control of the legislature in 2011.

Still, Stein has room to maneuver and make progress. As a former state senator, he knows the legislative process and has relationships on both sides of the aisle that may prove helpful.

Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat and former Senate minority leader, has watched lawmakers and governors fight and compromise during his decades in the state House and Senate. He said Stein should first find areas where he and Republicans can agree.

“My advice would be to seek them out and reserve your heavy artillery for when you have to use it,” Blue said. “There’s no need to pick fights. Get the temperature first.”

That’s the approach Cooper took. On social and education issues, agreement was hopeless, but the governor and legislative leaders did agree on economic development and made strong progress together. The state added 640,000 jobs during Cooper’s two terms and North Carolina won honors as a top state for business.

House Minority Leader Robert Reives supports Stein staying on Cooper’s course. On economic development, he said, “We have a clear blueprint from the Cooper administration on how to work together toward common goals.”

In pushing business issues, Stein may even get an upper hand on Republicans. Large corporations welcomed the Republicans’ nonstop cutting of taxes and regulations, but that conservative wish list is now almost checked off and the effects are, or should be, disturbing for business interests.

By favoring tax cuts over investments in public schools and state services, Republican lawmakers have allowed rural public school systems to struggle, put pressure on local governments to increase property taxes and caused high vacancies within the state employee workforce.

Republicans’ weakening of environmental protections and their skepticism about climate change now look dangerous after the historic damage to western North Carolina caused by Hurricane Helene.

Meanwhile, the Republicans’ reckless move to offer hundreds of millions of tax dollars to subsidize private school tuition for households of all incomes will exacerbate the crisis in public school funding. And as yet another income tax cut took effect on Jan. 1, there are signs that North Carolina may soon face a budget deficit.

Failing public schools, weak public services, heightened environmental risks and uncertain state finances do not make for a good business climate. Stein and business leaders may make progress by allying to insist on state investments that protect and advance what Republican overreach has put in jeopardy – a healthy state economy, an effective state government and a strong state workforce.