COURTESY REP. TERRY BROWN

N.C. Rep. Terry Brown, a Charlotte Democrat, is the first Millennial elected party whip in the General Assembly. His job – counting votes of the House Democratic caucus before floor votes – takes on added importance since they have a one-vote margin to sustain vetoes by Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

N.C. Rep. Terry Brown may have the toughest job in the General Assembly.

The Charlotte Democrat, 35, is minority whip, the first Millennial elected to that position in the General Assembly. In a chamber where House Republicans are within one vote of a supermajority that can overturn Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, it’s Brown’s responsibility to maintain that margin – and Democratic leverage – for the next two years.

“It’s a huge honor to be elected to that position by my peers,” he said.

Although Republicans are the House majority, Brown intends to advocate for Mecklenburg County’s interests during his second term after learning the ropes of the legislative process as co-chair of the Freshman Democratic Caucus in his first term.

“To see that work that I did means a whole lot to me,” he said, “but it’s really important as well for Charlotte to have folks in leadership positions here, even though we’re in the minority party to have a bigger platform for the issues are going on in Mecklenburg County.”  

Said Minority Leader Robert Reives (D-Lee) in a statement: “Rep. Brown has established himself as a leader and asset to our caucus, and I have no doubt he will excel as minority whip and be a vital piece of our caucus.”

As Democratic whip, Brown’s job is to count votes among his caucus – a position that turned more difficult last week when Republican lawmakers approved new rules that eliminated 48 hours’ notice before floor votes. With only one vote separating Republicans from a veto-proof supermajority, any Democrat who misses a session opens the door for passage of politically charged bills such as redistricting and reproductive rights. With Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto threat – he has used it more than any governor in state history – Democrats have some leverage in how bills are crafted.  

“I think it’s unfortunate that they changed that rule,” Brown said, “and I think it is unfortunate that they’re not giving notice; not just for us as legislators, but also all of our sessions are livestreamed on the internet. All of them are recorded. You can go back and watch, pull audio from any given day. Listen to the debate. There are people all across the state that are interested in so many of these things that we are voting on and to not give them the opportunity to weigh in on a particular issue is unfair to the people who elected us.”  

Cooper criticized the rules change as well.

“Not letting the public know when veto override votes will occur slaps democracy in the face and deceives citizen legislators who have overlapping work, family and constituent responsibilities they could change if they have proper notice," Cooper said in a statement. “Critical issues like women's health, gun safety and voting rights are on the line, and Republican House leaders need to keep things above board and offer at least 24 hours’ notice before veto override votes as Senator [Phil] Berger has done in the Senate. It’s a shame that House Republican leaders believe they can only override a veto through deception, surprise and trickery.”

Brown, whose southwest Charlotte district includes Steele Creek to the South Carolina border, said transportation remains an important issue for Mecklenburg residents, as well as health care access. He believes there’s an opportunity to convince lawmakers both should be addressed.

“Transportation infrastructure is the number one thing that we get emails and phone calls about constituents here in our district,” Brown said. “Investing in our resources and our roads, making sure that especially with so many people who were crossing the border from South Carolina working here in Charlotte and living right there on the other side of our district in South Carolina, transportation is probably one of the predominant issues that we get reached out about.

 
“Second to that is probably healthcare. With rising costs, with more issues from the pandemic still hanging around and creating different health issues that we hadn’t seen before. Being able to have good relationships with the two hospital systems here in Charlotte, has been beneficial to helping some constituents that way, but by and large when you’re talking about the issues that people focus on the we’re doing Raleigh it’s infrastructure.”

Even as a minority party, Brown said there are avenues to influence legislation. It’s especially vital for urban counties like Mecklenburg where the delegation tries to bridge philosophical differences with Republican lawmakers when possible.

“It’s not easy, I’ll say that,” he said. “But there are ways to get things done and be effective, and I tell people kind of two different ways to really be effective. …

“One is the work you can do in committees … to offer up amendments and tweak bills to make them more palatable within that committee structure, and a lot of times that committee process doesn’t get the attention that floor votes and things like that have but a lot of really good work go on in those committee meetings.”  

While Congress has developed a reputation for dysfunction and even intraparty division, North Carolina lawmakers are more collegial despite differences, which Brown said can even be found in social gatherings away from the legislature. There is common ground on most issues and even a spirit of cooperation and political pragmatism on either side of the aisle.  

“There’s some topics that Republicans are not going to touch that Democrats want to bring forward and there’s some topics that we Democrats are not going to touch that Republicans bring forward,” he said. “But there’s not that animosity where it’s a war zone that a lot of people think and you might see from on the news, what goes on in D.C.  
… “I would probably say 75% to 80% of the bills that are passed are close to unanimously, and that's because of the work that does go in negotiations with some bills to actually make them palatable, to make them better.”   

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