RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The new state Senate majority leader said Tuesday he doesn't expect dramatic policy shifts by Democrats even though the self-described populist is replacing the more business-oriented Sen. Tony Rand.
Sen. Martin Nesbitt, a 30-year veteran of the General Assembly elected unanimously Tuesday morning in a private caucus meeting, said his new role is to find consensus on issues that will help the party make good decisions for North Carolina while extending its 110-year grip in charge of the chamber.
"Nothing earth-shattering has happened," Nesbitt, D-Buncombe, told reporters after the meeting at the Legislative Building. "I don't think you're going to notice much of a change with me coming in."
Nesbitt will become the top lieutenant to Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, who's been in charge of the Senate since 1993 and with Rand at his side since 2001. Rand, D-Cumberland, announced two weeks ago he was leaving the Legislature to lead the state parole commission.
"I give you a true mountain man, a wonderful friend and a great North Carolinian," Basnight said in introducing Nesbitt after the meeting.
There were no other announced candidates for the majority leader's job, particularly since Basnight wrote an endorsement letter to the other 28 Democrats in the chamber two days after Rand's announcement.
Nesbitt won't have Rand's dual role of Rules Committee chairman, which some senators chafed under in recent years because they said it gave Rand too much power. Basnight's office said no one has been chosen for the position, which controls the flow of legislation to committees and the chamber floor.
"We need to spread the power around here in the Senate to include more people," Nesbitt said.
Nesbitt, 63, said he and Rand have different styles of governing but aren't that much apart on policy. He doesn't agree with the liberal label placed upon him by conservative groups.
"I try to view the world through the eyes of that average person out there that's trying to make it," Nesbitt said, but added: "I don't mind being labeled as a populist."
He has become the loudest advocate for mental health reform in the Legislature and led the effort for a $248 million recovery package after western North Carolina residents complained the government had forgotten them when homes and businesses were damaged by tropical storms in 2004.
Nesbitt said he wants Senate Democrats to spend the next year working on boosting the state's economy, which is hovering near an 11 percent unemployment rate.
"That's not liberal or conservative," he said. "That's just smart and we need to get the state moving again."
Nesbitt, a Buncombe County native, was appointed to the House in 1979 to succeed his late mother, Rep. Mary Nesbitt.
Under the mentorship of four-term House Speaker Liston Ramsey, Nesbitt became a member of the so-called "Gang of Eight," a de facto committee of House and Senate Democrats that controlled the budget negotiations. He later became a chairman of the House Appropriations Committee under then-Speaker Dan Blue.
"He fully understands the workings of these institutions," said Blue, D-Wake, who is now serving in the Senate. "He's persistent. He'll be a great majority leader."
After being swept out of office in the 1994 Republican surge, Nesbitt returned to the House two years later and was appointed to the Senate in 2004.
Nesbitt will be called on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars like Rand did to help Democratic candidates next year stay in charge of the chamber they have held since the 1898 elections. They currently hold a 29-21 seat advantage over Republicans.
Nesbitt becomes the highest-ranking mountain lawmaker in the Legislature since Ramsey was speaker.
"It's good for the west," said GOP Sen. Tom Apodaca of Henderson County, which adjoins Buncombe. "But as a member of the minority party, I hope it's just for a year."
