On the eve of early voting in North Carolina, Democratic nominee for US Senate Roy Cooper stopped in the Gate City as part of his ‘Make Stuff Cost Less’ Tour.
For months, the former governor has traveled across North Carolina, pledging to push for policies that will lower costs if he’s elected and discussing how high prices are impacting families.
“ Like with so many North Carolina families, you look at your budget and there’s too much month at the end of the money,” Cooper told the crowd. “As we look at the cost of gasoline, housing, healthcare, and the financial pressure, it only grows. These are not just economic statistics, these are real people. These are our neighbors. These are our families in our churches. These are the people who make our community strong, and they deserve to be heard.”
Rev. Frank Thomas, the senior pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in nearby High Point, introduced Cooper.
“ As a pastor, I hear the concerns of hardworking families who are doing everything they know to do, yet still find themselves falling behind,” Thomas said.
Healthcare
Cooper said he’s heard from North Carolinians about their fears of rising healthcare costs and looming Medicaid cuts, and what they could mean for their families.
“ I’m running for Meredith, who’s a mom in Winston-Salem. Her daughter, Vivian, has cerebral palsy and she’s insured by Medicaid,” Cooper said. “Meredith is scared to death that all of these attacks on healthcare from Washington are gonna snatch Vivian’s health care away.”
On Jan. 1, 2027, Medicaid cuts included in President Donald Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ are set to take effect. Over 10 years, roughly $1 trillion is set to be cut from the program. Various estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians stand to lose Medicaid as a result.
“The Medicaid cuts, cynically, that they put in this bill occur after the election. We have to send people to Washington who are committed to fixing this,” Cooper said.
As governor, Cooper fought for Medicaid expansion, which became law during his second term in Dec. 2023. In just under three years, over 737,000 people have enrolled in the program across North Carolina.
At the end of 2025, Congress allowed tax credits for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans to expire, sending monthly premiums soaring. North Carolina saw the steepest decline in ACA enrollees this year, with 214,000 fewer people signing up this year, a 22% drop.
“ We need to restore the healthcare subsidies. So many people had health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and they could afford it. Now they can’t,” Cooper said.
Ending the war in Iran
In the seven months since President Trump launched a war on Iran, gas prices have soared. Nationwide, regular gasoline averaged over $4 a gallon for more than 150 days in 2026. On Sept. 19, diesel prices hit an all-time high of $6.25 per gallon in North Carolina.
Less than a week after Gov. Josh Stein signed a suspension of the gas tax into law, the price of regular gasoline in North Carolina stands at $3.75 per gallon, while diesel fuel is averaging $5.72
“ This war has cost everyday families. The latest study, today, since the war started, the average cost to a family has been $2,000,” Cooper said. ”For families living on the edge, that’s an almost impossible situation.”
Despite rising gas prices, Cooper’s opponent, Republican Michael Whatley, defended Trump’s decision to go to war as recently as Sept. 30.
“My message is that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons,” Whatley said when asked by reporters.
Cooper calls for “guardrails” on AI
Artificial intelligence capabilities are doubling roughly every 7 months, according to METR, a nonprofit analyzing AI advancement.
Last month, a group of bipartisan 26 state attorneys general, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, asked Congress to take more direct action on artificial intelligence. They are calling for federal oversight of AI development, international cooperation on the development of artificial superintelligence, and assurances that existing state-level laws will be enforceable.
In early October, Trump signed a voluntary agreement with several of the top CEOs of AI companies, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceX AI’s Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and others.
“There’s going to be a tremendous self-policing aspect,” Trump said.
The agreement is nonbinding and essentially agrees that companies leading the development of artificial intelligence will police themselves.
”We’ve heard the president say that we really don’t need federal guardrails here,” Cooper told Cardinal & Pine after the event on Wednesday. “I think it’s gonna be important for us to get independent, knowledgeable people together and to put guardrails in place to protect people.”
Cooper said the world also needs to have nuanced conversations about AI.
“This is global. I would hope the president could do this, but we’re gonna need people to meet with the Chinese leader and other countries about what they are doing with AI, because I think everybody who’s involved in it right now is really concerned about the negative potential for the human race, and we’ve gotta make sure we have guardrails in place that can protect people and then leverage the good that can come out of it,” he said.
