McCrory lawsuit against feds may shift narrative on LGBT law

The governor, trying to reshape the narrative as he fights for his political life, sued the Obama administration last week and accused officials of yet another overreach into state business.

The fight, just months before McCrory faces a tough re-election battle, centers around a Justice Department directive that says not allowing transgender people to use facilities matching their gender identity broke the law and puts at least $1.4 billion in education funding at risk.

"The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set basic restroom policies, locker room policies, and even shower policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina," McCrory told reporters at the Executive Mansion just after he sued the Justice Department.

With McCrory preparing for a re-election campaign against Democrat Roy Cooper, his lawsuit wins him support from conservative Republicans who support the law but may be thinking twice about voting this fall with Donald Trump likely at the top of the ballot.

McCrory's intervention in social issues also could risk him losing independent voters who helped elect him in 2012, when he was viewed as a moderate, pro-business Republican.

LaCivita said Lynch's legal challenge and last Friday's Obama administration directive to public schools nationwide to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity "reinforced and prove what the governor's been saying all along."