Legislative career Wicker served six terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1981 until 1993. In 1985 Republican
James G. Martin was seated as
Governor of North Carolina, and Democrats in the
North Carolina General Assembly attempted to weaken the powers of his office. Wicker proposed a bill to call for a referendum to amend the state constitution and eliminate gubernatorial succession, whereby a governor could serve two consecutive terms. The Assembly passed the bill by April, but after doubting the merits and popularity of a measure to remove succession, the legislators repealed Wicker's bill in 1986. In 1989 he became the Democrats' House majority leader, a position he held for the rest of his tenure in the legislature.
2000 gubernatorial campaign In 1999 Wicker began fundraising for a campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the
2000 North Carolina gubernatorial election. In January 2000 he officially filed his candidacy. A few weeks later Attorney General
Mike Easley filed his own candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Wicker was endorsed by the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, the leaders of the N.C. Association of Educators and most of North Carolina's black political organizations. Both Wicker and Ealsey pledged to reduce the size of public school classes, eliminate hog
waste lagoons, and create a
state lottery. Wicker also indicated that he would prefer to use state lottery proceeds to establish a college scholarship fund, while Easley said he would use the funds to reduce elementary school class sizes and expand pre-school education opportunities. == Post-government career ==