Governors

A short reflection on governors of the last 60 years or so.

I’ve been watching Josh Stein on social media. He’s doing a good job of keeping people informed about what he’s doing and making himself relatable. It got me thinking about North Carolina governors in general and what I remember about them.

The first governor I remember was Bob Scott. My uncle, Fritzi Mills, was his liaison to the legislature. I have a coffee table book titled “The Governor” by Nancy and Bruce Roberts who are better known for producing similar sized books of ghost stories in North Carolina. Uncle Fritzi shows up throughout “The Governor,” including one photo of his hand, prominently missing his index finger and holding a cigarette between his middle finger and what should have been his third finger. An inscription reads, “To Thomas, with best wishes always from Bob Scott, The Governor’s Office, Raleigh, NC, October 11, 1972.”

I don’t remember much about the Scott administration since I was five-years-old when Scott took office, but I do have some memories of events. North Carolina integrated most of its schools during his tenure. The book has lots of photos of African American men Scott appointed to various positions in state government.

Scott also oversaw the reorganization of the state government and the university system. The legislature passed a draft of a new Constitution, which the people ratified by a vote in 1970. The state moved from a county to a district court system and my father became the youngest Chief District Court Judge in the state. North Carolina incorporated measures to comply with the Voting Rights Act, ending barriers to voting like the poll tax. The legislature consolidated the UNC system under a board of governors. The state made a lot of changes during his four years.

Scott was followed by a political earthquake. In 1972, North Carolina elected James Holshouser, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Holshouser rode the wave election that rejected George McGovern, sweeping Richard Nixon into his second term with 60% of the popular vote and winning 49 states. We also elected Jesse Helms to the US Senate. As Democrats, we were demoralized.

In reality, Holshouser proved to be a moderate governor. He was what we called a “mountain Republican,” wary of government in general with a libertarian streak. He focused on government efficiency, but he also supported mass transit, provided universal kindergarten, and restricted development to protect environmentally sensitive areas. By today’s standards, he would have been a liberal.

Holshouser was followed by a force of nature. Jim Hunt had served as lieutenant governor and came into power to reshape the governor’s office. He got an amendment passed that allows the governor to serve two terms. By the time he left office, Hunt was already recognized nationally as a powerful and popular governor. His vision of the state largely shaped North Carolina for the remainder of the 20th century.

In 1985, Jim Martin became the second Republican governor of the 20th century. Martin had more of an impact on state government than Holshouser, largely because he became the second two-term governor, benefitting from Hunt’s expansion of executive power. Martin had served in Congress for years and didn’t have great allies in Raleigh. Still, he was largely successful, focusing on public education, improved highways, and economic development.

Martin witnessed upheaval in the legislature during his second term. In 1988, Democrats who controlled the Senate stripped the power of the lieutenant governor to oversee the body after Republican Jim Gardner was elected to the post. In the state House, a group of renegades, including future governor Roy Cooper, overturned the power structure, electing Joe Mavretic as Speaker to reform the heavy-handed seniority system that kept power in the hands of a relatively small group of old-guard state Representatives. These rebels needed GOP support for their coup and Martin benefitted.

After Martin, Jim Hunt returned in 1992 to complete his remaking of state government. He implemented Smart Start to offer pre-school for young children, a program that became a national model. He increased teacher pay with a goal of reaching the national average. He reduced class-size. And he got the governor the veto, increasing the power of the executive branch. By the time he left, he had served a total of four-terms and was recognized as one of the most influential politicians of the 20th century.

Hunt was followed by Attorney General Mike Easley. Easley felt more like a continuation of Hunt II, focusing on public education and his More at Four program to build on Smart Start. He also built a strong environmental record. He worked with fellow coastal Democrat Marc Basnight to protect water quality and signed the Clean Smokestacks Act into law that protected air quality, particularly in Western NC.

Easley also arrived at a time when Democrats were marred with a series of scandals. Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps got caught up in a campaign finance scheme that resulted in her resignation. House Speaker Jim Black went to prison for bribing a Republican legislator to switch parties. Easley’s own administration faced questions about sweetheart real estate deals and using state workers for personal projects. The period felt like an example of the saying “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Democrats had been in control of the state for too long with too few checks and balances.

After Easley, Lieutenant Governor Beverley Perdue became the first female governor of the state. Perdue took power at a difficult time. She won in 2008 as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression was consuming the country. Instead of implementing priorities, she was stuck in the unenviable position of trying to avert disaster. By the second half of her first term, Republicans controlled the legislature for the first time in more than a century. Perdue spent most of her tenure in a defensive posture because of circumstances largely beyond her control. She decided not to seek a second term

In 2012, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory became the third Republican governor since 1900. Most people (me, in particular) thought he would serve as a moderate governor putting a check on the worst instincts of the populist horde of rural Republicans driving the legislature. Instead, he was totally unprepared for office. He didn’t understand the culture of Raleigh or state government.

McCrory largely got rolled by the legislature. He came to town striking a moderate, pro-business tone and ended up being defined by cultural issues and made largely irrelevant by his own party. He left office after one term with almost no substantial contributions despite the GOP controlling all of state government.

After years of speculation, Attorney General Roy Cooper finally ran for governor and won. Cooper totally understood the mission. He announced early after he watched the GOP driving the state hard to the right. He also understood his limitations. He vetoed bills liberally and watched them get overridden. He understood that he was there to fight the GOP and win the argument more than the battle over legislation.

He hammered Medicaid expansion and public education, casting Republicans as the party standing in the way of health care and schools. He became the champion Democrats needed to pull them out of their despair, first as a candidate and then as the leader of the opposition in Raleigh. He was combative when he needed to be but also willing to cut deals to get what he wanted. Ultimately, he got credit for bringing Medicaid expansion to North Carolina and providing access to health care for more than 600,000 of the state’s citizens.

Cooper left office extremely popular for an incumbent from a swing state and was succeeded by Attorney General Josh Stein. Like Cooper Stein spent years in the legislature before becoming attorney general on his way to the Governor’s Mansion. And like Cooper, he understands his role—and how it differs from that of his predecessor.

While Cooper brought a combative demeanor, Stein has brought a calming one. By 2024, the most radical instincts of the GOP were on the wane. The new House Speaker was neither as gratuitously snarky nor as unabashedly financially self-serving as his predecessor. Stein and he share a low-key demeanor and Stein served years in Senate with Senate President Pro-tem Leader Phil Berger. Stein understands Raleigh and knows that relationships matter. Like Cooper, he knows his strengths and limitations.

Stein has made hurricane relief the centerpiece of his administration so far. He inherited the fallout from the worst natural disaster in the state’s modern history and he’s made sure that the victims know that he’s on their side. It’s a place where he can both show his ability to work cooperatively with the GOP in the legislature and also differentiate himself by advocating for more generous support. It’s smart politics and good government all rolled into one.

We’ve generally had good governors during my lifetime. The most recent two have been particularly skillful in navigating divided government. Their advantage over McCrory comes, in part, from experience. Cooper and Stein both knew how Raleigh and state government worked before entering office. They brought with them decades of personal relationships that have paid dividends. They seldom overreach and can’t easily be bullied.