'There was a movement afoot' NC's top Senate Democrat ousted from leadership, plans for next term to be his last
On Monday, Senate Democrats decided to have Sen. Sydney Batch lead the 20-member caucus. Longtime caucus leader Dan Blue is now planning to retire at the end of his next term.
When Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue learned through conversations last week that some of his members wanted a change at the top of caucus leadership, it became increasingly apparent that the party was moving in a new direction.
After initially trying to corral votes and gauge where his 19 fellow Senate Democrats stood on him leading the caucus for another two years, Blue realized the appetite for change was greater than he expected. Seeing the political writing on the hall, he ended his bid for another term leading the caucus. And on Monday, Democratic members tapped a more youthful member in Sydney Batch to lead the caucus.
“I just found out last week that there was a movement afoot,” Blue said in an interview with Anderson Alerts. “That's why we went on and scheduled [the leadership vote] to get it done. And I didn't know that there was this sort of undercurrent. Once I learned that some of the members felt that they needed to move to something new, that was fine with me.”
Blue, who has led Senate Democrats since 2014, now says he’s planning for the 2025-2026 legislative session to be his final term. He served in the House from 1981 to 2003, including four years as speaker from 1991 to 1995. After an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 2002, Blue returned to the House in 2006, before moving over to the Senate in 2009. By the end of 2026, he will have served in the General Assembly for more than 42 years.
Blue said he was already seriously considering his 2024 reelection campaign being his final bid for office. His ouster from leadership only appeared to cement that view.
“Things change as you move through them,” Blue said. “You know, if I had to make the call, that's been my intention all along. Look seriously at this as the last term. That was what I was thinking when I filed to run for reelection. But if something changes, I'll change my mind. But again, the important thing is to try to break this very detrimental monopoly that the Republicans have on the state.”
Publicly, Senate Democrats are seeking to present the leadership shift as more of a planned and orderly transition.
In a news release, the caucus said that Blue “announced his desire to decline another term as Leader” prior to Monday’s leadership vote. In their public statements, Blue said he was “excited to pass the torch” to Batch, while Batch said she was “deeply grateful” for Blue’s leadership.
But when I wondered during our interview whether it was more fair to characterize Blue’s ouster as a “coup,” he replied, “Yeah, that’s probably so.”
He added of Batch, “She's got a different style than I have on some of the internal stuff. It might be more appropriate for the time. We have the same goals and the same aspiration, but I think she might be a little more aggressive with some of them than I traditionally am.”
Blue said he understands the frustration among some Democrats who were disappointed to see Senate Republicans maintain their legislative supermajority in the chamber on the heels of the 2024 election. But voting maps that Republicans enacted last year made the prospects of breaking the GOP supermajority all but impossible. Blue said he sees last month’s results as a success for his caucus because they maintained 20 seats.
“We showed that we could hold our own, even though they did the most masterful gerrymandered redistricting than anybody had ever done,” Blue said.
But Blue has also presided over his caucus in multiple instances where it has given way to a GOP supermajority, including the 2016 and 2022 elections. In her public statement, Batch alluded to the need she sees for Democrats to “turn the page to a new chapter.”
She added, "North Carolinians are counting on us to protect their rights, expand opportunity and fight for policies that prioritize people over politics. Our caucus remains focused on creating a North Carolina where every resident can build the life they want for their families and themselves, and we are ready to work to get North Carolina back on the right track."