— Gov. Roy Cooper is telling Senate Democrats they will face opposition in next March's primary if they don't uphold his veto of the $24 billion state budget, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said Tuesday.

"Indications I've gotten from some Democrats in the Senate are that they would like for the budget to become law, but they are afraid of reprisals from the governor," Berger said at a morning news conference. "Stories include that he’s introduced them to their primary opponents if they don’t fall in line and follow his orders. If that’s occurred, it’s beyond the pale."

"Legislators are elected to serve the people they represent, not be subservient to the person living in the mansion down the street," Berger added, saying he's heard of the primary threats from more than one senator.

Cooper spokesman Ford Porter didn't directly address the accusation in an emailed statement.

"The only threat we see is the Republican leadership’s threat to our democracy," Porter said. "What we heard today was more empty excuses for the refusal to give teachers a meaningful raise or close the health coverage gap for 500,000 North Carolinians. The governor has offered a reasonable compromise, and North Carolinians deserve better than Republican obstruction and excuses."

"No," responded Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue when WRAL News asked whether Berger's accusation is true. "And if the governor were to do that, I would have some serious conversations with him."

Blue said Democrats have been united in their support for the budget veto, but that's because they back Medicaid expansion and higher teacher raises than Republican lawmakers have offered, not because of threats.

"Everybody here is an adult. They know what shapes their opinion about issues and what they will vote on on issues, and all of the Democrats have told me and told each other – both privately and in companies where all of us were present – and they’ve told the governor – that they will support his veto on the budget," said Blue, D-Wake.

"There may be some rogue groups out there that might think they’re doing somebody a favor by threatening, but the governor certainly hasn’t threatened," Blue added, predicting that it would be counterproductive. "My experience is, when you threaten people, you make them mad, and you would push them in the other direction."

WRAL News couldn't find a single Democratic lawmaker who admitted to being threatened.

Cooper vetoed the budget more than three months ago, saying it failed to expand Medicaid coverage to thousands of low-income working adults and included a business tax cut rather than bigger pay raises for teachers.

Since then, the Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders have engaged in a bitter standoff that reached its peak when the House was able to override the veto on Sept. 11.

Most House Democrats skipped a morning floor session that day, thinking there would be no floor votes, so Republicans easily got the necessary two-thirds vote of House members present at the time, despite vehement protests from the few Democrats in the chamber at the time. House Minority Leader Darren Jackson last week called for Republican House leaders to take lie-detector tests to determine whether they had misled him about not voting that morning.

With the House override vote, a Senate override is the only thing standing in the way of the 2019-20 budget becoming law. Like the House, however, Republicans lack a veto-proof majority in the Senate and must persuade at least one Democrat to break ranks or wait for a handful of Democrats to be absent to get the necessary three-fifths majority.

"As leader of the Senate, I believe it is my responsibility to do everything I can within the rules to see that the will of the Senate is enacted, especially in those instances where a Senate super-majority passed the measure," Berger said, noting that a handful of Democrats voted for the budget in June.

The Senate requires 24-hour notice of any pending vote, and he said that rule would be followed regarding any budget veto override.

"There should be no question that, should the budget override vote come up, every member of the Senate has been told publicly that they have a choice to make: be here and vote or not," he added.

Berger said he would prefer a compromise with Senate Democrats to demonstrate bipartisanship rather than an override vote that "squeaks through," but he said he's prepared to return in a special session in January – after the filing period for the primaries has closed – to get an override.

"If political threats are preventing the budget from becoming law, then maybe we should come back once that threat is removed," he said.

The Senate plans to adjourn by Oct. 31, he said, giving him four weeks to reach a budget compromise with Senate Democrats. If not, he said, senators will spend the next month passing more "mini-budgets" to secure spending in areas of state government where there's little disagreement between Republicans and Democrats.

The legislature has already passed mini-budgets on state employee raises, disaster recovery aid, rape kit testing, school safety and prison safety.

This week, the Senate plans to take up mini-budgets for community colleges, rural broadband growth, Department of Transportation funding, historic tax credits and the Raise the Age effort to try 16- and 17-year-olds charged with nonviolent crimes as juveniles rather than adults.

Berger reiterated his support for a special session to consider health care access, including Medicaid expansion, but said he remains firmly opposed to any expansion.

A bill pending in the House would allow more low-income adults who don't qualify for subsidized health coverage under the Affordable Care Act to obtain Medicaid coverage, but they must be employed and pay an annual premium in addition to co-pays.