RALEIGH, N.C. — Dan Blue, a groundbreaking figure in North Carolina politics across more than 40 years, will no longer serve as leader of state Senate Democrats after over a decade and is being replaced by another Raleigh-area lawmaker.
The Senate Democratic Caucus elected Sen. Sydney Batch as the minority leader entering the next two-year session, the caucus said in a news release Monday after it met privately.
Batch, a family law attorney who first entered the General Assembly in 2019, succeeds Blue, who before the leadership election ''announced his desire to decline another term'' as leader, the caucus release said.
''I am excited to pass the torch into the capable hands of Senator Batch,'' Blue said in the release. No details on the vote were released.
Blue, 75, first joined the legislature in 1981 as a House member and 10 years later was elected North Carolina's first — and still only — Black House speaker. He held the position for four years until Republicans took over the chamber.
He left the House following an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 2002. He returned to the House in 2006 and shifted to the Senate in 2009 — filling vacancies in both instances. In early 2014, Blue was elevated to the minority leader's post after then-Sen. Martin Nesbitt stepped aside due to an illness. Nesbitt died days later.
As minority leader, Blue has been in the difficult position of finding ways to push back effectively against Republicans, who have held continuous control of the Senate since 2011. Through several years in the post — including most of 2023 and all of 2024 — the GOP has held veto-proof majorities in each General Assembly chamber.
While referencing a ''new chapter'' in caucus leadership, Batch praised Blue on Monday for ''bringing forth his many years of experience gained through a historic tenure in both chambers of the General Assembly to deliver results for the people of North Carolina.''
