New North Carolina governor to face resolute GOP legislature

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's next governor campaigned on a promise to work if elected on bending back state government's recent right-ward turn, with the repeal of a law limiting LGBT rights near the top of his to-do list.

[...] Democrat Roy Cooper, who will take office after Republican incumbent Pat McCrory finally conceded Monday in their close race, will face an uphill struggle to do any of that because the state legislature probably won't want to go along.

Cooper will have a platform from which he can skewer Republican policy decisions if he thinks they fail to enjoy broad, middle-class popularity, said Steven Greene, a political science professor at N.C. State University.

Unlike McCrory, who had no state government experience before being elected governor in 2012, Cooper is a veteran of Raleigh politics who may be able to negotiate some victories.

The state board did agree to send their investigation of activities surrounding absentee ballots in one eastern North Carolina county to federal prosecutors so they could consider whether criminal charges are warranted.