
The North Carolina House of Representatives moments before they began their first session of 2025. (Photo by Dylan Rhoney/Cardinal & Pine)
Republicans no longer have a supermajority in the NC House, and offered hints they’d work alongside Democrats on Helene relief and other issues, but the next few weeks will show if their actions can keep pace with their words.
To open the 2025-2026 legislative session at the North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday, NC Rep. Brian Biggs, a Republican, asked God to help legislators “set aside our differences and come together for the common good.”
Biggs, who represents Randolph County, also prayed for fairness and compassion.
“Lord, we ask for wisdom now,” Briggs said in the opening prayer, just after noon.
“Grant us clarity of mind and understanding to discern what is good for those we serve. Teach us to listen with open hearts, to speak with kindness and act with integrity.”
And with that, the NC House opened its new year of state government, a session that will show whether the Republican-controlled legislature will answer those prayers or render them merely words spoken on a random Wednesday in January.
The General Assembly, over the last two years especially, was the site of several contentious debates over abortion bans, public school funding, fair election maps, and hurricane relief, and politics often took center stage over policy. The Republican supermajority frequently passed bills that sought to weaken the power of Democrats in statewide elected positions, including the office of governor. Many of those bills are now being contested in court.
So a new legislative calendar could see fresh fights on fronts both new and old, but the terrain has shifted, if slightly and complexly.
Republicans lost their supermajority in the House – by one seat – in the November elections, meaning they’ll be unable to override a veto from Gov. Josh Stein without the help of at least one Democrat. And in his inaugural address this month, Stein, a Democrat who beat his Republican opponent in November by a huge margin, vowed to work with Republicans and urged them to reciprocate in good faith.
“I want to stand with you as we fight for our people, not with each other,” Stein said in his speech.
“We have real problems to solve, and we do not have time to settle petty political scores.”
That, perhaps, means the bipartisan call for working together will be as much a necessity as a prayer.
That, anyway, is the bright way of looking at things, and on the first day of session at least, members of both parties leaned into the bipartisan vibes.
The first vote of the session, to formally adopt new structures for the various House committees, passed with a large, bipartisan margin.
The second, to honor the life and service of Rep. Joe John, a Democrat who died of cancer last week, was unanimous.
Here’s a look at the first day of the new session, and what it could suggest for the months to come.
On Helene recovery, ‘there is much work to be done’
House Speaker Destin Hall, a Republican who took over the House leadership after Tim Moore won a seat in the US Congress, has vowed to move fast on new funding to help western North Carolina recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
Helene had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it hit North Carolina, but its damage was unprecedented in an area so mountainous and far from the coast. The price tag, one state estimate suggested, could be nearly $54 billion.
The legislature passed several rounds of funding last fall, and in December moved another $227 million into a Helene relief fund for future use, but Republican leaders declined to provide any new immediate assistance, despite several calls from communities in the western part of the state who warned that they faced evictions, hunger, and catastrophe after being out of work since the storm hit in September.
Now that lawmakers have returned, new funding is high on the list of priorities, lawmakers say.
In a meeting of the NC House Select Committee on Helene Recovery on Wednesday, state officials told lawmakers that the money received from the federal government was nowhere near what was needed.
The state asked for $25 billion. It got $15 billion.
“There is much work to be done,” a slideshow presented by Jonathan Krebs, a member of a Helene taskforce set up by Stein, showed.
Four months after the storm, Krebs listed debris removal, housing, and bridge and road repair as some of the most urgent needs.
Stein asked President Trump directly for more assistance during Trump’s visit to the state last week, but Trump has sent mixed messages on whether the federal government should have much, if any, roll in disaster recovery.
In his visit to the area, Trump, who in the weeks after the storm spread several pieces of misinformation about the federal response in North Carolina, suggested he might get rid of FEMA entirely, the agency that has spent countless hours and dollars in the state to help residents secure temporary housing, food, and other immediate needs.
Trump’s remarks suggest future federal funding cannot be counted on with any degree of certainty, making the state’s next moves all the more important.
“Western North Carolina still needs a lot of help, and the legislature has done some work, but not enough,” NC Rep. Lindsey Prather, a Democrat who represents Buncombe County, told Cardinal & Pine on Wednesday.
Democrats’ priority in the new session, she said, was to convince Republicans to stop approving loans for small businesses and local governments, which have to be repaid, and start giving grants, which do not.
“There is just absolutely no way that small businesses are going to be able to continue with the … cash flow they have now,” she said. “They can’t take on more loans.”
The legislature needs to switch previously-approved loans over to grants, she said.
“And we’ve got to put more into housing, temporary housing, rental assistance, new housing, all of it,” she said. “That was a problem we had in western North Carolina before, and it is so much worse now.”
‘Neglected northeastern North Carolina’
NC Rep. Rodney D. Pierce, who was elected to his first term in November, said that even though he was a freshman, he hoped to bring attention to the most pressing issues in his district across Halifax, Northampton, and Warren Counties, – or as he called it, “neglected northeastern North Carolina.”
“What I expect to do is learn,” he said, with plans to speak with leaders from both parties about how best to pass “meaningful, tangible, and transformative legislation.”
He was warned, he said, that it was a rarity for first term lawmakers to introduce successful bills.
Still, he said, he was hopeful the urgency of the issues might at least get bipartisan attention.
The rates of prostate cancer, for example, are a huge problem in Halifax County.
“Halifax County has one of the highest, if not the highest, prostate cancer … rates in the entire state,” Pierce said.
“I’d like to think that’s something I can partner with my partners across the aisle on,” he said.
Unanimous grief and praise of Joe John
Former NC Rep. Joe John died of cancer this month, less than a week after he resigned from office.
John, 85, who represented parts of Wake County since 2017 as a Democrat, was also a former state judge and director of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Lawmakers from both parties got emotional as they honored John’s legacy on the House floor on Wednesday.
Democratic Rep. Robert Reives, his voice breaking, said John reminded him of his father.
“He had such a presence,” Reives said, “but at the same time, he had a kindness to him that was unbelievable.”
Despite his accomplished resume, Reives said, John took the time to check in on his colleagues, both new and seasoned.
“He did more in his 85 years than a lot of us are even going to be able to dream about,” Reives said from the House floor. “But when you talked to him, he was still one of the most humble people you’d ever get a chance to talk to.”
Rep. Brendan Jones, a Republican from Columbus County, agreed, saying he had formed a “lasting bond” with John over the years, “despite our differences in political perspectives.”
John’s “sharp mind and deep commitment to public service was evident in every debate and every committee meeting,” Jones said.
And from the Speaker’s lectern, Hall, who told the House “I’m not very good about talking about things like that,” he said, his voice breaking too, called John “one of the finest men that I’ve met.”
He continued:” The state and this world could have a lot more like him and we’d be much better off.”
The resolution highlighted John’s “significant impact” as a legislator and judge, praised his “thoughtful and principled leadership;” and “highest standards of dignity,” and extended the House’s sympathy to John’s family for the death of one of the chamber’s “most distinguished and outstanding members.”
The resolution passed unanimously.
After the House convened, John’s adult children, who attended along with John’s wife and grandchildren, said it was important for them to be there, in part, because their father hardly ever missed a session.
“He also was known to never miss a session, so today we were here in his honor so that he would not have to miss a session,” his daughter, Steffi John-Briley, told Cardinal & Pine.
“It was truly remarkable,” she said, “to hear people on both sides of the aisle say kind, respectful, thoughtful things about our dad, and I think that’s what we have loved so much about him and it’s truly special to see other people see what we see too.”
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