Transgender Law Helps Lead to Historic Loss in NC

Gov. Pat McCrory concedes race; he signed restrictive measure into law
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 5, 2016 1:21 PM CST
North Carolina Governor's Race Is Finally Over
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, is conceding the race.   (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool, File)

North Carolina voters finally know who their governor will be in January: Democrat Roy Cooper. A month after the election, Republican incumbent Pat McCrory conceded defeat as a recount was winding down, reports the News & Observer. McCrory gave in Monday afternoon when it became clear that he had no chance of overcoming Cooper's slim lead of about 10,000 votes. The loss is an especially stinging one not only because Donald Trump carried the state, but because McCrory now has the distinction of being the first governor in state history to lose a bid for re-election. As the AP notes, a controversial law he signed into place that restricted LGBT rights played a role.

Among other things, House Bill 2 requires transgender people in schools and federal buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate, and the majority of state residents opposed it. Cooper has called for its repeal, though Republicans control both houses of the state legislature. On that note, Politico floats the possibility that McCrory may try to add two conservative justices to the state supreme court before he leaves office and thus end the court's liberal majority. The legislature has a special session planned in which that could happen, though its stated purpose is hurricane relief. (More Pat McCrory stories.)

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