Cooper, fired up Dems set sights on busting GOP super-majority

ASHEVILLE - Hundreds of impassioned Democrats gathered Saturday night to hear Gov. Roy Cooper exhort them to get ready for a bare-knuckled brawl in the 2018 elections, with the ultimate goal of breaking the Republicans' veto-proof super-majority in the state legislature.

"We need to pull together like never before to make sure we get this legislature back," Cooper said at the state party's annual Western Gala. "The bottom line here is this crowd in power is working as hard as they can to take this state backward, and they're working fast because they know we’re coming for them."

The Republicans took control of both houses of the General Assembly in 2010, and then the governor's office two years later, with the election of Republican Pat McCrory. Cooper defeated McCrory last year in a tight election, but the Republicans maintained their super-majority in the legislature, meaning they can override Cooper's vetoes at will.

Cooper and other speakers, including state Senators Terry Van Duyn and Brian Turner, both of Buncombe, and Floyd McKissick Jr., of Durham, touted the importance of the 2018 election. It will be key, they said, in breaking the super-majority on the way to reclaiming the majority in 2020, a presidential election year that likely will create higher turnout.

Read more: http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/10/08/cooper-fired-up-north-carolina-democrats-set-sights-busting-republican-super-majority/743311001/