As the newly elected Democratic governor of North Carolina, Josh Stein ’88 has proven that political polarization can be overcome, not only at the ballot box, but in the delivery of his campaign promises.
Stein outlined his goals and strategies, including working with President Donald Trump on hurricane disaster relief, in Filene Auditorium Friday evening before an audience of 175 people at a talk sponsored by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy.
North Carolina, he noted, is a “50-50” state, narrowly supporting Republicans for president ever since Democrat Barack Obama carried it in 2008, but also where five out of the six most recent governors have been Democrats.
The conversation, which has been viewed by more than 300 people via livestream, was moderated by classmates David Duckenfield ’88, chair of the Rockefeller Center’s Board of Visitors and a former State Department official in the Obama administration, and Charles Wheelan ’88, clinical professor of business administration and faculty director of the Center for Business, Government, and Society at the Tuck School of Business.
“Where are the Democrats now in terms of creating a narrative messaging and political strategy that transcends just reacting to Trump on a day-to-day, hour to hour basis?” Wheelan asked.
“I’m not a political theorist, I’m a practitioner,” Stein said. “The way I see it, if you talk about issues that voters care about—and I talked a lot about economics, making sure the economy works for people, that people have a chance to succeed even in small towns, with great workforce opportunities, cutting taxes for working families, putting more money in their pockets, making sure neighborhoods are safe, combating the fentanyl epidemic, which has absolutely devastated North Carolina as it has much of the country—that mattered and made a difference.”
By connecting with voters across the political spectrum on bread-and-butter issues, Stein said, he was able to transcend legislative gerrymandering, which has created an uneven playing field for Democrats. But now that he’s in office, he’s facing a fresh set of challenges, as Duckenfield observed.
“The Trump administration has taken a view that their branch of government trumps—no pun intended—the others. And you live in a sort of mirror version of that in North Carolina, where the legislative branch has taken the tack that they’re going to take more power from the executive branch and sort of denude your power to appoint certain people. So can you talk a little bit about that reality?” Duckenfield asked.
“Well, first of all, when they do unconstitutional acts, which they have done to take away power that the constitution gives me, I go to court,” Stein answered. “I’ve got three cases going currently in which I’m asserting they’re violating the state separation of powers.”
Yet even in the heat of litigation, Stein says he strives to work collaboratively with legislative leaders on matters of urgent concern to his constituents, especially those whose lives and livelihoods were upended by Hurricane Helene in late September. The storm caused $60 billion of damage—twice the state’s annual budget—and destroyed or severely damaged more than 150,000 homes.
When Trump visited hard-hit Asheville, Stein met him at the airport, asked for federal disaster relief, and thanked him publicly for “lighting a fire under FEMA.” On the other hand, Stein said he has disputed falsehoods Trump has stated about the agency, and calls the new administration’s deep cuts to NIH funding “devastating to people who are in clinical trials for life-saving medicines and devastating to North Carolina,” which ranks sixth in NIH funding.
Stein recently accepted Trump’s invitation to co-chair the Council of Governors, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
“Is there advice out there for other Democrats who need to work with the White House?” Wheelan asked.
“You don’t respond to every shiny object, because then it just devolves into shouting,” Stein replied. “I’m not in this position to shout, I’m in this position to accomplish things, and I will do what I need to do without compromising my core principles.”
To rise above squabbling with state lawmakers, he said “compartmentalization” is important.
“You’ve got to be able to say ‘we’re fighting on this issue today but we’re going to put that in a drawer’ because tomorrow we’ve got to work together on Hurricane Helene or on the next big economic development project or workforce development or public safety or access to health care or protecting people’s right to vote.”
There are a lot of issues on which to find consensus, Stein said.
“And if all you are is in fight mode, you’ll never find that common ground. You’ll never get there.”
Stein, who is North Carolina’s first Jewish governor, said he was called to public service by his faith and family and the wish to make life better for his fellow North Carolinians.
A Harvard Law School graduate, Stein previously served eight years as North Carolina attorney general, leading the bipartisan effort of state attorneys general to negotiate a $50 billion national settlement with drug companies over the nation’s opioid epidemic, and eliminating a large backlog of untested rape kits. Before that, he served eight years as a state senator.
Asked by Wheelen to give advice to students who would like to be civic leaders but may be deterred by the unrelenting demands of today’s “tribal” politics, Stein said, “My belief has always been that if you cede the ground, if you cede the territory, the other side’s not going to. And if you believe in something firmly, then you have all the motivation you need to do it.”
During the Q&A session, students sought Stein’s views on topics ranging from support for Ukraine to the future of the Democratic party in southern states. Cheyenne Rowland ’26, a government major from Robbinsville, N.C., asked how to combat gerrymandering, “something that, every time it’s discussed at Dartmouth in class, North Carolina is used as an example.”
Stein said the main redress should be litigation, but lamented that after conservatives won a majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2022, the GOP-led legislature asked it to reconsider a gerrymandering decision, effectively giving itself sole power to shape voting districts.
After the talk, Rowland said she voted for Stein, and follows him closely on social media.
“I live in a very conservative area,” she says. “He swings more moderate, but he shows that he cares a lot about people, more than politics, which is very helpful in North Carolina.”
Before the conversation in Filene, Stein visited the American Political Systems class taught by Lecturer Benjamin Carter and met with a small group of student leaders. Following the event, he dined with members of Dartmouth Hillel.
