House Democrats held a press conference to discuss the lowlights of the 2023 Legislative Session. Republican leaders have enacted policies that coalesce more power into their own hands at the expense of the Executive and Judicial Branches, and most importantly, at the expense of North Carolina’s citizens. 

House Democratic Leader Robert Reives spoke about the continued power grabs. 

“For five years, Governor Cooper was able to keep in check the excesses of one-party rule, but that ended this year,” Leader Robert Reives said. “Most recently, the General Assembly drew up legislative and congressional maps in secret, cementing their power through gerrymandered maps and preventing North Carolinians from holding them accountable at the ballot box.”

Rep. Julie von Haefen spoke about the continued attacks on individuals and their bodily autonomy. 

“The slew of attacks on individual liberty and body autonomy… was launched by politicians who prioritized using propaganda to rile up their base over focusing on our state's most pressing issues such as the childcare crisis or worsening maternal mortality rates and the gun violence epidemic in our state and our country,” Rep. Julie von Haefen said. 

Rep. Rosa Gill discussed the efforts underway to dismantle public education in North Carolina

“As a former classroom teacher, I know that the educators today have many more challenges and steeper hills to climb,” Rep. Rosa Gill said. “The budget failed to fund our constitutional requirement to provide students with a sound basic education.”

Rep. Allen Buansi highlighted how election law changes made it more difficult to vote and sowed distrust in elections officials. In contrast, he outlined House Democrats’ bill HB 293, the Freedom to Vote Act, which would have provided funds for the State Board of Elections and prohibited voter intimidation. 

“For decades, trusted local election officials have conducted elections and verified election returns across the state,” Rep. Allen Buansi said. “But members of this General Assembly have insisted on spreading lies about elections. Their goal has been to sow distrust in the process and rally support for their campaigns to sabotage future elections.” 

Rep. Marcia Morey spoke about the attacks on an independent judiciary branch.

“This Republican-controlled majority is bent on tearing apart any notion of an independent judiciary. Six years ago, the match was lit when the Republican legislature decided every judge should be elected in a partisan race,” Rep. Marcia Morey said. “The legislation has created a Frankenstein’s monster that has only grown. This year, the super majority has taken it upon themselves for the first time to appoint ten special judges: no longer the governor, no input from the State Bar, local bars, purely partisan appointments. And in an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court of North Carolina ignores prior decisions and rewrites the law with no new cases or controversies before them.”

Rep. Wesley Harris covered how the budget failed to meet the needs of our growing state.

“It still continues to undercut the very needs of our state employees and our educators. In the midst of a vacancy crisis, we have raises that don't keep pace with inflation,” Rep. Wesley Harris said. “It’s a redistribution of wealth from the backbone of the state - the state employees - to corporations with record high profits.”