Josh Stein took the oath Wednesday as North Carolina‘s 76th governor. The small New Year’s Day ceremony took place at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh. He promised to govern for people rather than parties in a politically divided state.
Josh Stein, a Democrat and eight-year attorney general, placed his hand on an 1891 Tanakh. The Hebrew Bible has passed down through his wife’s family since her great-grandfather brought it to the United States. As a result, he became the state’s first Jewish governor. Roughly 100 guests attended his remarks. He said North Carolinians “are already a lot more united than the political pundits and purveyors of division would have you think.” He pledged “real solutions to the serious challenges we face.”
Key Points
- Stein succeeds fellow Democrat Roy Cooper, who was term-limited after eight years.
- He won the governorship by about 15 points in November even as Donald Trump carried North Carolina by roughly three.
- His first acts in office, promised for Day 2, were executive orders on Hurricane Helene recovery for the state’s west.
Josh Stein takes the oath: a ceremony steeped in two families’ histories
The Tanakh belongs to the family of his wife, Anna Harris Stein. It was published in 1891, the same year her ancestor Charles Wallace brought it to America. Generations of the family have used it.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall passed the embosser to Stein. The brass stamp applies the state seal to official documents. The ritual marked the formal handover from the Cooper administration.
Stein took office with North Carolina’s government split. He is a Democratic governor facing a Republican-led legislature. That legislature had just lost its veto-proof supermajority by a single House seat. His campaign pitch focused on public schools, abortion rights and public safety. Now every major bill will require negotiation. In his brief address, he pointed to shared ground: education, the economy and, above all, the storm-battered west.
Background: from attorney general to a ticket-splitting win
Stein, 58, had served as the state’s top law-enforcement officer since 2017. He sued opioid manufacturers, defended the state’s abortion law and tackled the backlog of untested sexual-assault kits. His path to the mansion ran through an unusual opponent: Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. However, Robinson’s campaign collapsed under reporting about past inflammatory comments and offensive online posts. Josh Stein won by roughly 15 percentage points. That was the largest gubernatorial margin among the year’s swing states. Meanwhile, Trump won the state at the same time. The ticket-splitting showed how personal, rather than partisan, Stein’s coalition was.
What happens next
Josh Stein’s agenda met the legislature immediately, but the storm came first. On Jan. 2 he travelled to Asheville and signed five executive orders for Hurricane Helene recovery. The orders accelerate temporary housing for displaced families. They also fund repairs to private bridges and roads. In addition, they set up a dedicated recovery office and advisory group. Finally, he called on the General Assembly to appropriate more. The larger public inauguration festivities were deferred to the following week. That scheduling choice fit the tone of Day 1: brief, familial and already at work.
The setting was as deliberate as the guest list. North Carolina’s constitution starts the governor’s term on Jan. 1. Therefore, the legal oath could not wait for the larger public festivities planned for the following week. The compact Executive Mansion ceremony brought together family, state officials and the outgoing administration’s team. It ensured the government was running on New Year’s Day. The Tanakh gave the morning its charge. A Jewish governor taking the oath on a 19th-century Hebrew Bible drew notice well beyond Raleigh. It belonged to his wife’s family, in a Bible Belt state that had never had a Jewish governor. The Stein camp made no effort to play it down. They presented the moment as a statement about whose stories fit inside the state’s history. The workload awaiting him, however, was thoroughly practical. It meant a budget negotiation, a Republican legislature, and a mountain region still digging out.
Sources: Office of the Governor of North Carolina, swearing-in remarks, Jan. 1, 2025; North Carolina State Board of Elections certified results.
