NC governor’s race: Stein’s transition team includes a Republican and a former Cooper aide

Welcome to the governor’s race edition of our Under the Dome politics newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.

With Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s decisive victory on Election Day over Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Sunday editions of this newsletter will now focus on Stein, his transition and the end of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration.

Stein has already named the top leadership of his transition team and is asking people to apply for other jobs on his transition website. He picked a Republican for one spot, and Cooper’s former chief of staff for another. Here’s more about them:

▪ Kristi Jones: Jones was Cooper’s longtime chief of staff who just left this summer for a private sector job at the natural gas and electric utility company NiSource.

▪ Richard Stevens: Stevens is a Republican and former state senator, from 2003 to 2012. He’s an attorney at Smith Anderson law firm. Stein was a state senator from 2009 to 2016, so the men served together in the Senate. Stevens co-chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee that writes the state budget — which is the subject of major negotiation between the governor and General Assembly every year. Stevens has served as chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

▪ Seth Dearmin: Dearmin has already worked with Stein for more than a decade and served as chief of staff at the N.C. Department of Justice, and was Stein’s campaign manager during his 2016 run for attorney general. Before that, he worked at Nexus Strategies, which is the firm co-founded by Morgan Jackson, the key adviser to Stein and Cooper.

▪ Malcomb Coley: Coley is an executive at EY, a global professional services company, and a partner at Bright Hope Capital, which invests in minority-owned businesses. He is also on the Board of Trustees at both Queens University and UNC Wilmington.

▪ Esther Manheimer: Manheimer has been mayor of Asheville since 2013, and is a law partner at Van Winkle Law Firm. In Stein’s announcement, Manheimer is described as “actively leading and contributing to response and recovery efforts in partnership with local, state, and federal leaders and agencies.” In Stein’s victory speech, he said that Helene relief and rebuilding in Western North Carolina would be a priority of his incoming administration.

▪ Christie McNeill: McNeill is executive director of the transition team, and served as a partner at McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm.

“We have the opportunity to make a real difference in North Carolina, and I am looking forward to working closely with them to hire hard-working, public-spirited people who will move our state forward,” Stein said in a statement.

Cooper staff departure

As Stein builds his new team, we can expect that Cooper’s team will soon move on to new jobs.

There has been at least one departure from Cooper’s staff already as his time in office winds down. Mary Scott Winstead, who was on his communications staff, has left for a job at Duke Energy as lead communications manager.

Cooper appoints new labor commissioner

Republican Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson, who did not run for reelection, resigned his position after the election. Republican Luke Farley is the commissioner-elect, but does not take office until January. In Cooper’s role as governor, he is tasked with appointing someone to finish out Dobson’s term.

On Friday, Cooper appointed Kevin O’Barr, who already works at the N.C. Department of Labor as bureau chief of Consultative Services. O’Barr has worked at the state agency for 24 years in various capacities.

More coverage of Stein’s victory

Our coverage of Stein’s win on Tuesday night didn’t end there. I have another story looking ahead to the 2025 legislative session and what’s different now that the era of Cooper, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore as the three most powerful politicians ends in December. Like Cooper, Stein will be a Democrat in the Executive Mansion negotiating with a Republican-controlled legislature. Read my story about how Berger, Stein and the likely next House speaker, Rep. Destin Hall, will work together, and how they won’t.

NC elects a Democratic governor and Republican legislature. Again. What’s different this time.

Also, read my quick primer on Stein.

North Carolina will have a new governor. Here’s what to know about Democrat Josh Stein

Stay informed about #ncpol

Don’t forget to follow our Under the Dome tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. Our new episode posting Monday will be our second post-Election Day episode within a week; I talk with colleagues Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, Korie Dean and Kyle Ingram about the judicial, Council of State and legislative races.

You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at newsobserver.com/newsletters. Want your friends to get our email, too? Forward them this newsletter so they can sign up. You can also email me questions you may have about the governor’s race at dvaughan@newsobserver.com.