As my colleague Ward Clark reported earlier, it was a big day for the Republican-controlled General Assembly in North Carolina, with the House and Senate overriding Democrat Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of HB 805, a bill that, among other things, codifies the definition of man and woman in state law.

Override #5 Is Done.

The NC House has just overridden HB 805. The highlights of HB 805 include:
✅ Stating only two sexes (male & female)
✅ No taxpayer funded gender transitions
✅ Parental control in schools and libraries #ncpol pic.twitter.com/SZHTr92nSh

— Rep. Brenden Jones (@BrendenJonesNC) July 29, 2025

What’s especially interesting here is that, unlike in the Senate, which has a veto-proof supermajority, the House is short one vote courtesy of the 2024 elections. But one House Democrat, Rep. Nasif Majeed, voted along with Republicans to override the veto, saying afterwards, “I had some moral issues about that and I had to lean on my values.”

NC House Speaker Destin Hall has said the GOP would operate with a “functioning” supermajority — despite being 1 seat short.

He was right. Today, Republicans are overriding Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes with help from Democrats:

Carla Cunningham, Shelly Willingham, and Nasif Majeed. pic.twitter.com/ayPdAonoN2

— Andy Specht (@AndySpecht) July 29, 2025

Unfortunately for House and Senate Democrats, seven more of Stein’s 14 vetoes were overridden Tuesday (the six others presumably will be tried at a later point) with the help of some of their fellow Democrats, including one that allows for private school teachers to be armed and another that calls for better cooperation between sheriffs’ offices and ICE:

The GOP has achieved success with one gun-related override. House Bill 193 is now law, allowing private schools to permit teachers, parents or volunteers to carry guns on campus and essentially function as security guards.

[…]

House Bill 318 is now law and requires local sheriff’s offices to cooperate more closely with the federal government’s mass deportation effort. The bill also requires sheriffs to detain accused illegal immigrants for up to 48 hours after they would have normally been released — a measure Stein says is unconstitutional. 

The lone House Democrat who voted to override the veto of HB 318, Rep. Carla Cunningham, went off in a speech on the House floor, at some points sounding like a pro-border security Republican in the process.

This led to members of the gallery attempting to shut her up, and at least one House Democrat, Deb Butler, tried to do the same. But House Speaker Destin Hall (R) cleared the way for Cunningham to continue:

The controversial moment Rep. Carla Cunningham, a democrat from Mecklenburg County, votes to override Gov. Stein’s veto on HB 318, an immigration enforcement law.

In her speech, she said: “It’s time to wake up.” #ncpol @WCNC pic.twitter.com/0KdSocw6XS

— Julie Kay (@JulieKayTV) July 29, 2025

Read excerpts from her speech below (it went on for roughly six minutes):

NC Democrat Carla Cunningham was interrupted twice — by an audience member and by a colleague — in a speech criticizing US immigration policy.

“All cultures are not equal.”
“Turn the conveyor belt off.”

She cast the deciding vote on a bill requiring sheriffs to work with ICE. pic.twitter.com/aO57bTPoRY

— Andy Specht (@AndySpecht) July 29, 2025

The full speech can be read here.

Predictably, some of her colleagues are already insinuating that Cunningham is a racist, but she’s used to it, having voted with Republicans on illegal immigration-related bills before.

All in all, it was a normal one for North Carolina Democrats on the whole who, this time around, have their colleagues – and not Republicans – to blame for losing. Again:

During a veto override vote in the General Assembly, Rep. Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg) scolded colleagues to “stop thinking that somehow owning a gun and possessing a gun is a God-given right from the US or NC constitution. It is not! It is NOT a God-given right!”#NCpol #NCGA #2A

— Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) July 29, 2025

Democrats totally crashing out in the North Carolina General Assembly over veto overrides. #ncpol #ncga pic.twitter.com/OfQsEfZTb6

— Nick Craig (@nicholasmcraig) July 29, 2025

Bless their hearts.

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