DELIVERY, NC — A day after he confirmed he would not run for vice president Kamala Harris’ running mate, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a public event Tuesday that he is excited that Democrats have “a lot of great options for her to choose from.”
Speaking in the coastal city of Brunswick County with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Director Michael Regan to celebrate federal funding for land conservation, Cooper reiterated his message from Monday, saying, “This was not the right time for our state or for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”
Cooper, who was barred from running for re-election this year by term limits, was one of about a dozen potential candidates Harris’ team initially considered for a vice presidential nomination. He has been an alternate for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and now for Harris.
“I’m going to work every day to make sure she gets elected,” Cooper said told WECT-TV. “I believe she will win and I look forward to this campaign because she has the right message and is the right person for this country.”
In making his decision, Cooper acknowledged Tuesday that he was partly concerned about what Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson might do if he left the state to campaign as part of the Democratic ticket. The State Constitution says that “in the absence of the governor of the state … the lieutenant governor shall be acting governor.” Robinson is running for governor this fall.
“We were concerned that he would want to draw attention to himself because if I were the vice presidential nominee, there would be a lot of attention focused on him and that would be a real distraction from the presidential campaign,” Cooper said.
Cooper was referring to when he traveled to Japan last fall on an economic development trip. As acting governor, Robinson held a press conference in his absence to announce that he had issued a proclamation for “NC Solidarity with Israel Week” following the October 7 Hamas attack in the country.
Cooper withdrew from the fight This happened well before Harris’ screening process began, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously to The Associated Press to discuss the sensitive search process.
Tuesday’s event at Green Swamp Preserve celebrated $421 million in grants for projects in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland to reduce climate pollution. The money will be used to preserve, enhance or restore coastal habitats, forests and farmland, Cooper’s office said.