New N.C. Gov. Josh Stein is calling on GOP lawmakers to work with him on issues like education, Helene recovery and combating fentanyl abuse. He made his inaugural address Saturday afternoon in a televised event that was scaled back due to winter weather.
Stein said he wants to work across the aisle to make progress, as he begins his four-year term opposite a legislature with a nearly veto-proof Republican majority.
"To the members of the General Assembly I say, let's work together," Stein said. "We have real problems to solve, and we do not have time to settle petty political scores or fight divisive culture wars. I want to stand with you as we fight for our people, not with each other. No party has all the answers. Good ideas do not come with party labels."
Stein's 15-minute speech didn't include any specific new policy proposals. In the coming months, the governor will be tasked with proposing a state budget for the fiscal year beginning in July, although the legislature will ultimately develop the final spending plan.
Stein noted that his first official actions as governor were executive orders aimed at speeding up the Helene recovery process in western North Carolina. The multi-billion-dollar disaster recovery needs were a major theme in the speech.
"We must overcome the unprecedented storm that ravaged our state and the everyday struggles that impact our neighbors, and we will," he said. "After all, here in North Carolina, we have overcome fires and floods, poverty and plagues, recessions and racial segregation. When we see our neighbors stuck on a roof, we don't run: We build a boat and row."
That was a reference to a story Stein told at the beginning of the speech. He talked about a daring rescue in Morganton during the 1916 western North Carolina flood, when Will Clark assembled a rescue boat to paddle through a raging river to rescue a shop owner from his roof.
In addition to Helene needs, Stein called for action on teacher raises, public school funding, career education and apprenticeship programs and fentanyl trafficking.
"Too many people are dying, so we must smash drug trafficking rings peddling this poison," he said. "We must also reduce stigma so that more people seek treatment."
Stein's speech didn't mention some of the topics that have divided North Carolina politicians in recent years: private school vouchers, abortion, medical marijuana legalization, casinos and immigration enforcement. He instead highlighted successful examples of bipartisan cooperation, from Republican Gov. Jim Holshouser's work with a Democratic legislature to create free public kindergartens to Gov. Roy Cooper's work with the GOP to expand Medicaid.
"We have worked across the aisle together for the good of our people before. Let's do it again."
Stein's inaugural speech was originally scheduled to take place outside the Capitol Saturday in front of a large crowd, including swearing-in ceremonies for other Council of State members. With snow and ice hitting Raleigh Friday night, organizers opted to cancel most of the public events and hold the speech indoors instead.
They're hoping to reschedule a public block party and the traditional inaugural ball at a later date. North Carolina hasn't had the full pomp and circumstance of inaugural festivities since Gov. Pat McCrory took office in 2013. Cooper's first inauguration was scaled back due to snow, and the 2021 events were limited by COVID-19 restrictions.
