RALEIGH, N.C. — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is pressing for lawmakers to expand Medicaid, increase public education funding and help rural North Carolina with more aid following Hurricane Florence.
Cooper made a soft sell for his favored initiatives to a joint session of the General Assembly on Monday night during his second State of the State address.
The legislature is still in Republican hands. But Democrats took away the GOP's veto-proof control from both chambers with legislative victories in November.
Cooper highlighted the bipartisan work done in the weeks and months after Florence struck the state.
The governor says the two parties may disagree on things but got big applause when he said all can agree education will succeed with a good teacher in every classroom and a good principal in every school.