North Carolina Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg) speaks on the House floor on July 29, 2025. Cunningham voted to override on Gov. Josh Stein's vetoes, breaking with her Democratic Party colleagues. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
North Carolina lawmakers began voting to override Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes on Tuesday, forcing into law several contentious measures after a handful of House Democrats defected to vote with the Republican majority.
Most votes in the Senate came with little suspense, as Republicans hold a veto-proof majority.
But in the House, GOP leaders had no votes to spare. One seat short of a supermajority, they joined with several key Democrats to override the governor’s veto on an array of bills: cracking down on immigration enforcement, restricting changes to birth certificates for transgender people, allowing concealed weapons in private schools and repealing an emissions goal for Duke Energy.
The overrides were not secured without some scrambling. One of the Senate overrides failed briefly, before Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick, Columbus and New Hanover) changed his vote on the bill on concealed weapons in private schools.
And in the House, as key Democrats cast their deciding votes and broke with their party, one rose to defend their vote on an immigration bill in a fiery speech. Another, who provided the deciding vote on the bill decried as a GOP “culture war” proposal by other Democratic members, said he had “moral issues” with the legislation.
“I think they’ve got a handful of members on the Democratic side of the House who just recognize that they’re up here to serve their constituents,” House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) told reporters Tuesday after the votes. “And they recognize particularly that sometimes means compromise on issues.”
Several controversial measures did not receive override votes in the House on Tuesday, including the a measure to allow anyone 18 and older to carry a concealed gun without a permit, and bans on diversity, equity and inclusion. Lawmakers are set to return tomorrow, but it could also be months before the House calls up those bills for votes.
“We have a year-and-a-half left in this,” Hall said. “And we’re obviously going to be back here, whether that’s sometime this year or whether it’s in the short session next year.”
Democrats’ decisions to vote with GOP: Curbing immigration and ‘moral issues’
Republicans needed just one Democratic vote to secure an override. On all of Tuesday’s votes, they got that — and sometimes more.
Among the most consistent defectors was Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg). During debate on an immigration bill to require sheriffs to comply with ICE detainer requests, she rose to defend her vote. She believes that those who immigrate “must assimilate” in the United States, she said, and “adapt to the culture they wish to live in.”
She said she had been “called racist” for her vote, but said she would not be silent in the face of those “who disagree with my ideology” on the issue of immigration.
“We have been naïve,” Cunningham continued. “We have been exploited and abused by the different tactics to gain citizenship in America. It’s time to wake up.”
Her remarks spurred a rare interruption from a member of her own party, when Reb. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) called a motion to end debate and move to a vote. Cunningham finished her speech shortly after.
“So today, if you ask me to line up behind another group of people to raise awareness about their plight, I will unapologetically say ‘no,'” Cunningham said.
Rep. Shelly Willingham (D-Edgecombe) also signed off on several overrides. He voted for an expansion of the state auditor’s powers and to allow private school employees to carry concealed weapons. And he joined Cunningham in support of bills that repeal a Duke Energy emissions goal and ban agencies from collecting donor info from nonprofits – a measure opposed by pro-democracy groups.
But the swing vote on one of the most contentious votes Tuesday was another Democrat: Rep. Nasif Majeed (D-Mecklenburg). He was the sole Democrat to vote in favor of a bill that, among other things, would codify definitions of male and female in state law, allow parents to restrict their students’ library book access, and restrict changes to birth certificates for transgender people.
“I had some moral issues with that,” Majeed told reporters after the vote. “And I had to lean on my values.”
Democratic opposition, protesters
Still, almost all other Democrats remained opposed to the bills Tuesday — with a number of them who previously voted in favor of the measures flipping to “no” votes on Tuesday.
That included seven who voted against changing the oversight structure of charter schools, and eight who voted against the Duke Energy bill.
“Our planet is on fire,” Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) said, urging colleagues to hold utilities accountable for carbon emissions.
And Rep. Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg) decried the override vote on the bill dealing with gender and libraries — saying it was “overtly manipulative.” The bill began as one designed to protect women and children from online exploitation before being rewritten in the Senate.
The voting session, which had been anticipated for weeks, drew protesters to Jones Street. At times, some protesters loudly coughed during lawmakers’ remarks, being sharply rebuked by Hall. And after one vote, several left the gallery shouting that those who supported the bill should be ashamed.
Protesters hold signs outside the North Carolina House chamber on July 29, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)Vetoes on DEI bills overridden in Senate, but not yet in House
The Senate cancelled Stein vetoes on bills banning diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education and public education. The House did not take override votes on those bills, nor did it try to override a veto banning DEI in state agencies.
Senate Democrats denounced the bills, which they said would whitewash history and limit students’ exposure to challenging ideas.
“This bill assumes that white people are so weak that we need to be protected,” said Sen. Michael Garrett (D-Cumberland), who is white.
The bill assumes “young people will be indoctrinated or somehow broken by divisive ideas,” he said.
Republicans nationally have decried DEI policies, arguing they interfere with meritocratic hiring and training, and have aimed to repeal them.
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