Martin Nesbitt named NC Senate majority leader

    RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina Senate Democrats have chosen veteran Buncombe County lawmaker Martin Nesbitt as the new majority leader.
    The Democrats met behind closed doors Tuesday before announcing the decision. A spokeswoman for Senate leader Marc Basnight says Nesbitt was elected unanimously by the caucus. There were no other candidates.
    Nesbitt will become the top lieutenant to Basnight, who’s been in charge of the Senate since 1993. Nesbitt replaces Sen. Tony Rand of Cumberland County, who announced two weeks ago he was leaving the Legislature to lead the state parole commission.
    Nesbitt joined the Legislature 30 years ago and became one of the House’s chief budget-writers into the 1990s. He switched to the Senate in 2004.
   
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