Hackney Speaker, Holliman Majority Leader
I would have put this online sooner but I had to take care of that pesky print product.
Rep. Joe Hackney of Orange County is the Democrat's candidate for Speaker. A lot can happen between now in Jan. 24 and there is a good amount of worry that that one of the defeated Speaker candidates - either Rep. Jim Crawford or Rep. Dan Blue - would reach out to Republicans and cut a cross-party deal.
However, all the Dems I talked to as they left Wednesday night’s meeting said they were going to stick to their choice.
Greensboro's Rep. Pricey Harrison was an early and vocal supporter of Hackney. When I asked her last night if that was good news for her, she demurred.
“I don’t expect to get any bonus points,” she said.
Well, I expect her to. At the very least, Harrison - who is from the Dems' more liberal wing - will be more successful under Hackney’s leadership than under a more conservative speaker, like Crawford. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see her show up in a committee post that one who is only beginning their second term in the legislature usually wouldn’t get.
Also a boon to the Greensboro area is the selection of Rep. Hugh Holliman of Davidson County as majority leader.
Holliman’s selection is a done deal.
Click here to listen to my run and gun interview with Holliman immediately after his selection.