On Wednesday, Mr. McCrory unveiled his budget for lawmakers. It included a 2 percent raise for teachers, a response to a sharp outcry after last year’s session, when teachers were stripped of tenure protections and denied a raise for a sixth year.

Mr. McCrory, who declined to be interviewed, defended through a spokesman his role in last year’s session, but added that he would be more of a factor this year. “I will probably be more assertive and proactive than in the first year, which I frankly thought was extremely assertive — we passed a major tax reform, transportation reform and a vocational education bill to increase opportunities for high school students that enroll in career and technical education programs,” he said.

But Chris Fitzsimon, director of the left-leaning NC Policy Watch, called Mr. McCrory the “mayor” of North Carolina, saying the governor had been relegated to a quasi-ceremonial role. “He’s out somewhere every day touring a factory, cutting a ribbon, and yet he can’t get any significant policy through the General Assembly and he can’t stop things he opposes,” Mr. Fitzsimon said.

This legislative session is likely to run two months or less and feature fewer ideological points of contention. It is unfolding in the glare of a United States Senate race. Thom Tillis, the Republican nominee, who is speaker of the House, has an interest in tamping down controversy as he prepares to run against the incumbent, Kay Hagan, in what could be a pivotal race for control of the Senate.

“My primary job is to run an efficient legislative session,” Mr. Tillis told reporters.

Just as significant as what Mr. McCrory put in his budget proposal, delivered at a news conference, was what he left out. There was scant mention of his top policy initiative of the last two years, a Medicaid overhaul, which he had to set aside after members of the Republican leadership said they would not take it up.