By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House Republicans carried out a succession plan Tuesday that they agreed upon a year ago, choosing the chamber’s rules committee chairman to succeed Rep. Tim Moore after his 10 years as speaker.
Republicans who recently won House elections met privately in Raleigh and chose Rep. Destin Hall of Caldwell County as their candidate to preside over the House when the next two-year session starts in early January. Hall said he faced no opposing candidates Tuesday.
Republicans are expected to hold 71 of the 120 seats in the House, retaining majority control of the chamber and apparently ensuring Hall’s election by the full House when the next General Assembly session convenes. The General Assembly has been in Republican hands consecutively since 2011.
“I want to thank my caucus members for the tremendous support that they’ve given me over the past couple of years and then again today,” Hall said at a news conference, adding that “the message that we have coming out of our caucus today is one of unity. ”
Should GOP membership in the House remain at 71 after recounts, however, Republicans would lose the veto-proof majority they held in the General Assembly over the past two years — making Hall’s job harder to advance right-leaning legislation over Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein’s vetoes.
The 37-year-old Hall would succeed Moore, who was elected to Congress this month. Even before announcing a congressional bid last year, Moore had said his record fifth two-year term leading the chamber would be his last. That news set in place a shadow campaign for the job, with Hall and Majority Leader John Bell of Wayne County as the leading candidates.
In October 2023, key House GOP leaders said they backed a plan in which Hall would become the caucus nominee for speaker, and that Hall would select Bell as the next rules chairman if ultimately elected speaker. Hall confirmed Tuesday that he plans to choose Bell for that role.
That plan opened an upcoming vacancy for the majority leader’s position, which only requires the vote of the House Republican Caucus. The caucus on Tuesday chose current Deputy Majority Leader Brenden Jones of Columbus County over Haywood County Rep. Mark Pless.
House Republicans did choose Rep. Mitchell Setzer of Catawba County as their nominee for speaker pro tempore over the current officeholder, Sarah Stevens of Surry County. Stevens has held the pro tem’s job — the No. 2 elected post in the chamber — since 2017. One of the job’s chief responsibilities is directing debate when the speaker is absent.
Hall, a lawyer from Granite Falls, was first elected to the House in 2016. By 2020, he was the rules committee’s co-chair, and a few months later he was the sole chair, managing the flow of legislation in the chamber.
As a leader of the House Redistricting Committee, Hall has helped shepherd electoral district maps through his chamber since 2019. He also advanced a bill that neared enactment this week that would order sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigrant agents looking for people in the country illegally who have been brought into county jails.
Jones, a funeral home owner, was recently elected to a fifth House term.
Senate Republicans will also pick a leadership team, which almost assuredly will include nominating Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger to lead the chamber for another two years.
Berger, from Rockingham County, has held the post since Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2011. Berger is now in his seventh term as pro tem — second in state history to his predecessor, the late Sen. Marc Basnight.
This month, Republicans won the 30 seats necessary to retain a chamber supermajority in the 50-seat Senate.