Gov. Roy Cooper withdraws from consideration as Kamala Harris’ VP

Cooper, who would have made a lot of sense as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee, said that though the timing wasn’t right, ‘we’ll all work to make sure she wins.’

Gov. Roy Cooper took his name off the shortlist of potential running mates for Kamala Harris, he announced on Monday evening, saying “this just wasn’t the right time.”

Perhaps we should have known. 

While most of the other names on the list were busy auditioning for the role on national television over the last week, Cooper was busy at his day job, putting the final touches on deals with the Biden-Harris administration to bring in millions of dollars to protect North Carolina’s coasts and relieve medical debt for millions of North Carolinians. 

While he has led enthusiastic rallies for Harris in North Carolina, Cooper did not seem like someone ready to launch a national tour. 

“I strongly support Vice President Harris’s campaign for President,” Cooper wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after several publications reported he’d dropped out. “I know she’s going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role.”

He continued, “this just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”

Harris has “an outstanding list of people from which to choose,” Cooper said, “and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.”

Some publications, citing anonymous sources, said that Cooper was hesitant to join the Harris ticket because of a state law that says anytime the governor leaves the state, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor. And the lieutenant governor  of North Carolina is Mark Robinson, who has said that public school teachers are witches, abortion providers are butchers, and that some people “need killing.”

Robinson, the Republican nominee running to replace Cooper, is among the most extreme, far-right candidates in the country. But Cooper often leaves the state for state business, and aside from an occasional publicity stunt, Robinson is limited in what he could do

There is also speculation that Cooper would prefer to run for US Senate in 2026, when North Carolina’s incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is up for reelection. 

Whatever the reason, Cooper’s decision to pull out of the race will disappoint many Democrats who had been pushing hard on social media for Harris to make him the one. 

A strong argument

Cooper did not quite have the same national name recognition as others on the list, like Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, but he would have made a lot of sense.

While national audiences may have found themselves wondering, who the heck is Roy Cooper, North Carolina could have answered that question with questions of its own.

• Who was the only Democratic governor in 2020 to win an election in a state Trump won?
• Who was the only North Carolina Democrat who got nearly 80,000 more votes than Trump in 2020?
• Which Democrat has NEVER lost an election in North Carolina?
• Which Democrat won so handilly twice that the Republican-controlled General Assembly had to take power away from him in order to get an advantage?
• Which Democrat outlasted a decade of Republican resistance to expanding Medicaid in North Carolina and got the job done?
• Who saw his state be named the best state in the US for business several years in a row, even as he devoted funds and attention to make the economy better work for everyone?

Hint: It’s Roy Cooper.

North Carolina is still the place to be

North Carolina has been a big focus of both the Harris campaign and the Biden campaign before it.

Trump has no realistic path to victory in November if he loses North Carolina. 

And in 2020, Cooper beat his Republican opponent for governor by a far bigger margin than Trump beat Biden. In fact, Cooper got nearly 80,000 more votes than Trump.

That is hardly a guarantee of anything, but Democrats have long been “all-in” on winning North Carolina, and in an election that could tip on the margins, Cooper could have made the difference here for Democrats. 

Cooper and Harris were both attorneys general for their states and have worked together closely during the Biden-Harris administration to secure billions in federal infrastructure grants to repair North Carolina’s roads and bridges, replace lead water pipes, and to put the state on track to expanding high-speed internet across all 100 counties. 

Additionally, they have been mighty complimentary of each other in her appearances here.

When Harris took the stage in Greensboro this month soon after Cooper’s warm up speech, she praised his energy.

“I want to acknowledge my friend, Gov. Roy Cooper,” she said. “When he came backstage, I said ‘Roy, you tore it up.’”

At a recent Harris campaign event in Raleigh, Cooper declined to answer several times whether he had officially been vetted for the vice presidential role. 

But he repeated that no matter what, North Carolina would continue to be a focal point in the election.

Harris has made seven trips to the state this year, and 15 in the last four years. 

“It’s been great to host her in North Carolina,” Cooper said. 

“She cares about this state and she’s going to be here a lot more.”