(The Center Square) – Minority in both chambers again for the next two-year session of the North Carolina General Assembly, Democrats have chosen as chamber leaders Sen. Sydney Batch to succeed Sen. Dan Blue and Rep. Robert Reives for another term.
Blue, according to a party release, declined another term. A published report citing the senator as a source says otherwise.
Blue, a 75-year-old from Wake County, is among his party’s legends in state history. Ten years into serving in the House of Representatives, he became the first and remains the only Black speaker of the House. He held the post for consecutive two-year terms.
Blue earned his undergrad from North Carolina Central and his law degree from Duke. He was second in a stout 2002 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring five-term Republican Sen. Jesse Helms. Erskine Bowles, loser in the general election to Republican Elizabeth Dole, won the primary ahead of Blue and North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.
Marshall, herself among the party’s modern-day legends, remained in her position and in January begins her eighth term with a sixth different governor. She was the first woman to win statewide office.
Blue filled an unexpired term and was then reelected in going back to the House in 2006 and crossing to the Senate in 2009. In 2014, he became the minority leader of the chamber.
“On behalf of the North Carolina Democratic Party, I want to recognize Senator Blue for being a trailblazer for our state and thank him for his years of service and leadership for our party,” Anderson Clayton, chairwoman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in a statement. “I want to congratulate Senator Batch on becoming the new Senate Democratic leader. We support Senator Batch as she leads our caucus of committed public servants who are fighting for every voice across our state.”
Batch, also from Wake County, was elected to the House in 2018 by less than 1,000 votes, lost a reelection bid, and was appointed in 2021 to the Senate. She won reelection in 2022 and again this year.
Reives, D-Chatham, has a decade in the House and has been the minority party leader since 2020.
For the coming two-year session, Republicans hold a 30-20 edge in the Senate and 71-49 advantage in the House.
