Democrats in North Carolina are projected to break the Republican supermajority in the state legislature.
Multiple house seats flipped in the election, but were largely canceled out by loses for either party.
Democrat Beth Helfrich, a former teacher, defeated Republican Melinda Bales for an open seat which was held by a retiring GOP lawmaker. But, Republican Mike Schietzelt flipped an open seat currently held by a Democrat.
Democrats Dante Pittman and Bryan Cohn defeated incumbent Republican Reps. Ken Fontenot and Frank Sossamon respectively. But incumbent Democratic Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams lost to Republican Jonathan Almond.
Republicans gained a supermajority in the North Carolina House of Representatives last year after Rep. Tricia Cotham switched from Democrat to Republican. Cotham won re-election but her race could be headed for a recount.
Now, the split in the house is 71-49, with Republicans just one vote short of the 72 seat supermajority.
While the Republican supermajority is broken in the House, the party seems to have maintained its supermajority of 30 seats in the state Senate.
But, without supermajorities in both chambers, the GOP will no longer have enough votes to override vetoes from Democratic Governor-elect Josh Stein’s office.
Republicans used their supermajorities in 2023 to pass legislation further restricting abortions in the state despite objections from Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and override his veto of an election bill.
