NC’s new governor: Stein, Trump and the Helene recovery
Welcome to the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein had his first interaction with President Donald Trump since Trump began his second term less than a week ago. Trump stopped in Western North Carolina and met Stein on the tarmac of the Asheville airport.
Trump criticized FEMA’s Helene response in North Carolina, saying he wanted the states to handle it. “I like, frankly, the concept that, North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. ... Meaning the state takes care of it,” Trump said.
At one point while taking reporter questions at the airport, Trump turned to Stein and said that the state would need to chip in, too, “like 25% or whatever,” video from C-SPAN showed.
You can read more of our coverage of Trump’s visit from my Charlotte Observer colleague Mary Ramsey, including him talking about getting rid of FEMA.
While Trump was still in North Carolina, Stein sent out a statement:
“It’s a positive signal that President Trump made his first visit outside the capital as President to our mountains. I thanked the President for coming and asked for his support of $20 billion in additional disaster relief and for 100% reimbursement of eligible FEMA expenses for another six months,” Stein said.
“Families, businesses, and communities are struggling and need these urgent resources to help them rebuild. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration in the coming weeks and months to get people what they need to rebuild and recover,” he said.
NCGA hearing on Stein, Cooper hurricane offices
Helene recovery is the first order of business when the General Assembly reconvenes on Wednesday to start the work of the long legislative session. Republican House Speaker Destin Hall said earlier this month that he’d like to pass a “mini” budget bill for Helene.
The House’s Helene recovery committee meets Wednesday, followed a day later by the hurricane subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, known as Gov Ops. Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger chair Gov Ops, with Republican Rep. Brenden Jones and Sen. Brent Jackson as the hurricane subcommittee chairs.
Gov Ops will bring in Stein staff to talk about his new Helene recovery office, the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, or GROW NC, as well as the troubled N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency. NCORR was heavily scrutinized by Republicans during former Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration.
The hearing is expected to include information about how Stein’s new GROW NC will operate as well as the latest financial situation with NCORR, which requested more money in late 2024.
“Simply creating a new group to oversee hurricane recovery will not cure the ills of the previous administration,” Berger said in a statement.
Stein expands social media on Bluesky
When Stein took office Jan. 1, he also took over Cooper’s social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and X. As X continues to lose users to Bluesky, which operates more like X did when it was still Twitter, Stein has accounts there, too. Beyond his own Bluesky account, Stein launched an official governor account this past week, @ncgovernor.bsky.social.
The cities of Raleigh and Durham both have official accounts on Bluesky, but I haven’t seen state agencies there yet. You can find The News & Observer at @thenewsobserver.bsky.social, Under the Dome at @underthedome.bsky.social and me at @dawnbvaughan.bsky.social.
Stay informed about #ncpol
Listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. On our new episode posting Monday, I’m joined by my legislative team colleagues, Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram, as we discuss the start of the General Assembly’s long session and Trump’s influence.
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This story was originally published January 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "NC’s new governor: Stein, Trump and the Helene recovery."
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