Josh Stein says Senate budget falls short. Some fellow Democrats voted for it.
The North Carolina Senate has passed its budget bill, and four Democrats voted with Republicans on it. One Republican voted against it.
This isn’t the first time Democrats have voted for a Republican-written budget proposal, either because they liked what was in it for their respective districts, or, and this is more likely, they wanted a seat at the table when the final budget is decided.
The test for Democratic Gov. Josh Stein will be how he and those Senate Democrats work together to push for what they want in the final budget.
Good morning and welcome to the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, the Capitol bureau chief.
Will Stein find a way to punish Democrats for voting the way they want to, as Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper did, or does he work with those moderate Democrats, and Republicans, to get a final budget he’ll sign?
Among the four: the former longtime leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus and North Carolina’s first Black House speaker: Sen. Dan Blue. You can read more about the Democrats who broke away for the vote from my colleague Avi Bajpai.
One moderate former Senate Democrat who voted on occasion with Republicans was ousted after Cooper endorsed his primary opponent. That was in 2022, when Sen. Kirk deViere lost to now-Sen. Val Applewhite, who went on to win the general election. Applewhite didn’t become a guaranteed yes-vote for Cooper, though; she sometimes voted with Republicans.
DeViere was part of a bloc of four moderate Senate Democrats four years ago that also included Sen. Paul Lowe, then-Sen. Ben Clark and then-Sen. Don Davis. Davis left the Senate to run for Congress, and was successful, while Clark ran for Congress and lost. Just Lowe remains, and he joined Blue, Sen. Gladys Robinson and Sen. Joyce Waddell in voting for the Republicans’ Senate budget bill this past week.
Blue was replaced as minority leader by Sen. Sydney Batch after she received the most votes in the Senate Democratic Caucus election.
Blue, however, remains in the Senate, and he kept his office in the Legislative Building. Office assignments are controlled by Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall.
When Senate Republicans’ budget became public Monday night, I asked Stein’s office if he had a response. Stein held off commenting until Wednesday, just ahead of the Senate’s vote. Stein, who wanted to freeze planned tax cuts, said the bill “falls short.”
Stein looks forward to ‘working with the legislature to improve this budget’
“We should be making investments in what makes North Carolina a great place to live: educating the next generation of North Carolinians, growing a strong workforce that drives our economy, and keeping communities safe,” Stein said in an emailed statement.
“Unfortunately, the Senate budget falls short. We need to do much more to compensate teachers, support community colleges, and protect public safety. I look forward to working with the legislature to improve this budget and to appropriate additional funds for Western North Carolina in the weeks ahead.”
The Senate budget includes $700 million for the Helene fund, and would replenish the state’s Savings Reserve Fund, otherwise known as the rainy-day fund, to $4.75 billion.
Stein’s own budget proposal in March was presented with the caveat that he would be asking again separately for funding for just Helene recovery.
Sen. Ralph Hise, one of the top Senate budget writers, said the state needs to “prepare to fend for ourselves” if the federal government fails to fund more Helene recovery.
Helene money from the Trump administration is likely to be one area where Stein and Republicans will continue to find common ground — even though tax policy is not.
The General Assembly is taking a spring break this week, with no voting sessions or committee meetings until April 28. A few weeks later, the House will present its own version of the budget.
Thanks for reading. Contact me at dvaughan@newsobserver.com. Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up on our website to receive Under the Dome in your inbox daily. And listen to our Under the Dome podcast, which is published every Tuesday morning on all podcast platforms and is previewed in your Tuesday Under the Dome newsletter.
This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Josh Stein says Senate budget falls short. Some fellow Democrats voted for it.."
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