Election 2016

Pat McCrory Concedes to Roy Cooper

Written by SK Ashby

Great news -- Mister Bathroom Bill himself North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has conceded the race to his challenger state Attorney General Roy Cooper.

As recently as Friday it appeared McCrory was going to drag this fight out as long as possible, but McCrory conceded this morning in a video message his office published on Youtube.

Republicans still control both state houses in North Carolina, so governor-elect Cooper will have his work cut out for him, but it was Governor McCrory's office that has carried on the legal fight against transgender men and women who simply want to use the bathroom in private.

To the best of my knowledge, Governor Cooper will not be legally obligated to carry on that fight but the state legislature may make it difficult for him to reverse the anti-transgender bathroom bill HB2 which they passed in a one-day special session early this year.

If nothing else, I think it's safe to say the law will never be enforced even if it's not immediately repealed.

Legislators in several states considered and even advanced bathroom bills over the past two years, but North Carolina was the first state to actually codify such a law. The state has paid a heavy economic price for it, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity in the form of withdrawn tournament events and canceled business development.