Cooper’s abortion veto has been the most hyped ever in the short history of NC vetoes

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is a big reason why veto power even exists in North Carolina, and he has used it more than all other governors combined.

But never has he put as much fanfare into a veto as he is with the new Republican-backed abortion restrictions he plans to veto Saturday, following a rally with supporters.

Cooper is counting on the event to raise public pressure on Republican lawmakers who he says pledged on the campaign trail not to back further restrictions on abortion. The bully pulpit is, in practical terms, the only tool he has to work with.

Vetoes in North Carolina are a relatively recent phenomenon. North Carolina voters only approved the veto in 1996 — the last state in the country to give the governor that power.

North Carolina’s government has long been set up to make the governor particularly weak, compared to most other states, and the lack of a veto was just one part of that strategy.

Even once voters approved it, the power to veto went unused for years. The first to use it was former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley in 2002 when he vetoed a bill appointing dozens of people to various state boards and other roles. Vetoes have skyrocketed ever since Republicans took control of the legislature in 2011.

Of the thousands of bills the legislature has passed since the veto was created, only 112 bills have been vetoed, the vast majority by Cooper and former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, both of whom had little other leverage in dealing with Republican legislative majorities. Cooper alone has vetoed 77 bills since he took office — 69% of the total. Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, sometimes disagreeing with his fellow Republicans in the legislature, vetoed six bills in his single term in office.

During that time, vetoes have mostly been conducted out of the public eye, although from time to time, governors have held press conferences to announce them. However, no governor to date in North Carolina has ever organized a rally to watch them use the red stamp.

Because of that 1996 constitutional amendment — which Cooper himself was the lead sponsor of back when he was a state senator — the governor has 10 days to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature. Typically, those 10 days are fairly quiet even for controversial bills, at least to the general public, as Cooper’s lawyers and political aides go over the bills and debate how to respond.

Not this time. The governor has spent the last week crisscrossing the state, holding rallies to whip up public opposition to the bill. His veto faces a high likelihood of failing, but he hopes that if enough voters call their lawmakers, or otherwise make their displeasure known, then he might have a chance of flipping the one Republican vote he needs to stop it from becoming law.

Cooper’s final rally will be in downtown Raleigh Saturday at 10 a.m. on Bicentennial Mall just across the street from the state legislature. A counter-protest is also planned:conservative groups such as the N.C. Family Values Coalition plan to hold a rally of their own at the same time and place to support the new 12-week abortion ban.

From 2019 through 2022, when Democrats held enough seats to uphold a veto, none of Cooper’s vetoes were overridden.

But in 2023, Republicans picked up enough seats to regain veto-proof supermajorities in the House and Senate. A supermajority is 60% of lawmakers present and voting.

They successfully overturned Cooper’s first veto this year of the bill repealing the state requirement for a pistol purchase permit. The abortion bill will be his second veto of the session.

WRAL state government reporter Will Doran contributed to this article.