After fighting virus, storms and Republicans, departing North Carolina Gov. Cooper focuses on wins
RALEIGH, N.C. — RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina resigns after eight years in which the Southern Democrat picked his moments against a Republican-dominated Legislature, making big gains on Medicaid expansion and clean energy while falling short in battles over private school vouchers and abortion rights .
Cooper, who guided the state through the coronavirus pandemic, Hurricanes Helene and Florence and an early flashpoint in the culture wars over access to public restrooms, was barred from seeking a third consecutive term. He is completing 24 consecutive years in statewide office – the first 16 as attorney general.
In a December interview with The Associated Press at the executive mansion, Cooper reflected on his tenure with an emphasis on the positive — an easier undertaking compared to many Democrats across the country in the wake of this year’s election.
“To be able to wake up every morning and lead the state you love has been humbling, challenging and fulfilling. I have truly appreciated every day,” said Cooper, who will be succeeded by state Attorney General Josh Stein, a fellow Democrat, in early January.
Facing veto-proof majorities for nearly half his time as governor, Cooper was unable to stop many GOP initiatives, including deep income tax cuts, taxpayer-funded vouchers to help public school students attend school private schools and new restrictions on abortion.
But Cooper, one of several Democratic governors seen as potential contenders for federal office, managed to convince Republican Party legislative leaders last year Expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act – something he has strived for since he was sworn in as governor in 2017. Now, 600,000 low-income adults are participating in the program a year earlier than expected.
“This is a generational investment in people’s health,” Cooper said last week during a farewell speech in Nash County, where he grew up and launched his first gubernatorial campaign in 2015. Another bipartisan agreement was reached in 2021 on a milestone energy bill which recommended a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Cooper takes credit for the conditions that led to major business expansions that he says have helped create hundreds of thousands of new jobs over the past eight years, including those in the clean energy sector. But he also offers rare praise to Republican lawmakers for all working together to provide economic incentives that have driven companies like Apple, Toyota and Boom Supersonic to build in the state.
Still, Republicans believe Cooper gets too much credit for the state’s broad economic success and has pushed for reckless state spending at every opportunity. Most of his record of over a hundred vetoes were overturned.
“There has been no governor who has had less of his agenda implemented and North Carolina has succeeded despite its leadership failures,” said GOP spokesman Matt Mercer.
Regardless, Cooper’s perceived performance in a swing state has increased his national profile during this year’s presidential campaign, positioning him as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris until he said it “just wasn’t the right time” for him and for North Carolina. Now Cooper, 67, will have to decide whether an attempt to unseat U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, in 2026 is on the horizon after holding what he calls the “best job I’ve ever had.”
Although North Carolina Democrats have won eight of the past nine gubernatorial elections, they have not won a U.S. Senate race since 2008.
“If you want to run for public office again, you have to have your heart and soul in it, you have to have fire in your belly,” Cooper told the AP.
With that in mind, he said he plans to take a few months to clear his head before deciding what the next step is: “I’m going to think about how I can best contribute to the things that matter to me find.”
It’s no wonder many Democrats in North Carolina want Cooper to stay on the political stage. He has never lost a race for state legislature, from the Legislature in the mid-1980s through a 10,000-vote victory over then-Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2016.
“What he has actually done from my perspective is he has kept the progressive flame alive in North Carolina during a difficult time,” said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic political consultant who worked with Gov. Jim Hunt. “I’m not sure anyone else could have done as well as he did.”
Cooper took on Republicans before he was sworn in.
As governor-elect, he initiated a series of lawsuits challenging the legislation approved weeks earlier he took office and shifted powers from the executive to the legislature. The legal results were mixed, and even now litigation over his appointment powers continues in court. This month, Republican lawmakers introduced even more changes that would weaken Stein’s gubernatorial authority. A lawsuit has been filed.
During his first three months as president, Cooper worked with lawmakers partially repeal the 2016 “bathroom law”. which required transgender people to use public restrooms that corresponded to the gender on their birth certificate. The law had lost state business, including canceled sporting events and court expansions, and “North Carolina’s reputation was in tatters,” Cooper said.
Eight years later, “we’re building a North Carolina that’s healthier, better educated, with more money in people’s pockets, and we’re ready to welcome prosperity with open arms for generations to come,” Cooper said.
Republicans cite several flaws in Cooper’s administration. These include expenditure overruns at the Ministry of Transport; continued delays in rebuilding or renovating homes for Eastern North Carolina residents following Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018; and executive orders that helped expand restrictions on businesses and school education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was painful dealing with the governor fiscally,” said Republican Sen. Warren Daniel. “I just don’t think he’s very good at running the government.”
Cooper has defended his actions, particularly his pandemic leadership, and said North Carolina came out better than many other states.
Even in the face of policy defeats, Cooper managed to win the admiration of supporters. The Democratic governor used a lot of political capital in 2023 in an attempt to block a law that did so, to no avail changed the state’s ban on most abortions from 20 weeks of pregnancy until 12 weeks. Republicans overrode his veto.
“There is simply no governor who has ever fought as hard and as publicly as Governor Cooper to protect access to abortion,” said Paige Johnson of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.
Many North Carolinians see it differently. Cooper’s opposition to the abortion law reflects an administration that has been “consistently hostile to policies that serve the interests of North Carolina families,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition.
Cooper said he is confident that Stein, who succeeded him as attorney general, “will continue much of the progress we have made.” Cooper hired Stein as his head of consumer protection 20 years ago, when he was attorney general.
Otherwise, Cooper knows he will “miss the opportunity every day to do something that really makes a difference.”
“That’s what you can do in this job,” he added. “And whatever I decide to do, it will be difficult to replicate.”