RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina's latest Democratic governor was sworn into office on Wednesday, as Josh Stein succeeded Roy Cooper in a top elected position for the second time in eight years.
During a small ceremony inside the old Senate chamber of the 1840 Capitol building, Stein took the oath from Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby. His wife, Anna, family and friends and state officials watched, including Cooper.
''Today I stand before you humbled by this responsibility, grateful for this opportunity and ready to get to work for you, the people of North Carolina,'' Stein said in a speech.
By defeating GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in November by almost 15 percentage points, Stein continued a run of Democrats leading the executive branch in the nation's ninth-largest state, even as Republicans have recently dominated the General Assembly and appellate courts. Democrats have won eight of the last nine gubernatorial elections since 1992.
Stein had been attorney general for the past eight years, following Cooper in the elected law-enforcement post.
Cooper was barred by the state constitution from seeking a third consecutive gubernatorial term.
Cooper, who delivered opening remarks, said to his successor: ''Governor, this will be the best job you have ever had.''
Stein's powers have already been challenged by Republican lawmakers, who last month overrode a Cooper veto of a wide-ranging measure that erodes the governor's authority to manage elections, fill appellate court vacancies and pick his own Highway Patrol commander. Cooper and Stein sued recently to block the Highway Patrol and state election board changes.
