He never lost an election. He has known Kamala Harris for years. And he’s a self-proclaimed “diet soda sommelier” who doesn’t like Diet Mountain Dew — the drink that Sen. J.D. Vance went viral for promoting in his first speech as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate.
“I think Cooper is the complete package,” said state Senate Democratic leader Dan Blue, who was also the first and only Black House speaker in North Carolina. “I don’t see any vulnerability — unless being Southern and speaking a little slower might be a vulnerability in certain parts of the country.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is not an astronaut or a household name like some others the vice president is considering for her running mate. But many Democrats think Cooper is at or near the top of Harris’ list because he would be a strong partner who could potentially win North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes.
“He’s the ultimate team player,” said state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, the Democratic leader and former Cooper aide. “James Carville once said that there are politicians who want to be something and politicians who want to do something. Roy Cooper is someone who wants to do something for people.”
The governor’s second term ends at the end of this year and term limits prevent him from running again, so Democrats wouldn’t risk losing anything by taking him out of the state. And he is not known for harboring presidential ambitions for himself, so he is unlikely to try to upstage Harris or use the role as a springboard.
“He wins a lot,” said Noam Lee, who was executive director of the Democratic Governors Association when Cooper chaired it.
“Mr. November,” as Lee said Cooper was nicknamed internally, raised a “truly mind-boggling amount of money” to help the party’s gubernatorial ticket exceed expectations in 2022.
Allies describe Cooper, 67, as a disciplined political strategist and capable executive who spent years quietly destroying opposition in the Republican-dominated parliament to pass progressive legislation on LGBTQ rights. Medicaid Expansion It is of Climate Change.
In North Carolina, Cooper has consistently outperformed national Democrats, winning six consecutive state elections — including five when Republican presidential candidates also won the state. He won his first term as governor by unseating the Republican incumbent in 2016, even as Trump sailed to victory the same night.
“Roy Cooper is the most popular politician in North Carolina,” said Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist based in Raleigh. “North Carolina has always been another state where, if the Democrats can win it, then there is no path for Trump to get to the White House.”
After decades in the state Legislature, four terms as attorney general and two as governor, allies say Cooper knows this better than anyone, cultivating a vast bipartisan political network through old-fashioned Joe Biden relationship-building with a special taste for handwritten notes.
Still, it would be an uphill battle for any Harris-led pass to take North Carolina.
Vice presidential candidates have a mixed record of results in their home states, as voters tend to be concentrated at the top of the ticket. And like many states, North Carolina voters have a history of being willing to split their ticket in state races but not federal ones, making it unclear whether Cooper’s help would even work in a presidential race.
Still, Cooper’s supporters say the gray-haired Southerner would be an ideal complement to Harris, who Republicans are eager to paint as a San Francisco extremist.
Sunday school teacher
Born in rural Nash County, about 45 miles east of Raleigh, Cooper – who he says he is really pronounced more like “stove” – he attended public schools and picked tobacco on his parents’ farm during the summer. He won a prestigious Morehead Bag to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he pledged the Chi Psi fraternity and was elected president of the campus Young Democrats. He stayed at UNC to study law.
A practicing Presbyterian, Cooper served as a deacon and Sunday school teacher in his Raleigh Church. His wife, Kristin, is a lawyer and avid birder who worked in the foster care system and used her first lady focus on child poverty and related issues. They have three adult daughters, all of whom also graduated from Chapel Hill.
Former aides describe Cooper as a warm boss who treated employees like family and modeled work-life balance, which helped generate strong loyalty. They are proud to note that two former Cooper Cabinet officials were recently elevated to important positions in Washington, including Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Michael S. Regan and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen.
The image of the squeaky-clean family man is real, allies say, but also difficult to penetrate, as Cooper rarely shows much spontaneity or personality in public.
“He’s a very disciplined messenger,” said Travis Fain, a veteran political reporter from North Carolina who recently left journalism for nonpartisan public relations. “There are a lot of people I’ve interviewed over the years where I thought I was in control – Cooper wasn’t one of them. I tried every way I could to get him out of his talking points, but it became clear that I would only get what he wanted to give.
This reputation for image control is what made Fain and other North Carolina politicians take notice when, in a hot mic moment While preparing an interview, Cooper responded to a question about his beloved Diet Sun Drop soda with a rare moment of levity.
“I’m like a diet soda sommelier,” Cooper said when given the microphone for an interview in 2022. “So Mountain Dew is sweeter than Diet Sun Drop. Diet Sun Drop has a slightly more acidic flavor.
It is not much. Especially at a time when politicians share so much on social media. But Cooper ended up putting “diet soda sommelier” in his social media bio and the North Carolina Democratic Party sold “diet soda sommelier.” crazy.
“He has a human side,” Fain said. “And he would have to show a little more of that [as Harris’ running mate] because you have to advance at a national level.”
It’s ironic, then, that his potential rival, Vance, used his first speech as Trump’s running mate to share your own opinions on diet citrus sodajoking that Democrats would start calling his beloved Diet Mountain Dew “racist” now.
‘I’ve known her for a long time’
Unlike some others on Harris’ list, she and Cooper have a pre-existing relationship, although they are not close.
As attorneys general, they worked together on the national mortgage settlement after the 2008 financial crisis. When Harris arrived in the Senate and served on the Judiciary Committee, she would call Cooper to find out her state’s nominees. And Cooper appeared with Harris whenever she visited the state, “unlike some who rush out when times get tough,” noted Blue, the Senate Democratic leader.
“I’ve known her a long time,” Cooper said of Harris on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this week. “She came to Charlotte on Dobbs’ birthday and gave a passionate speech to a packed rally about women’s reproductive freedom. You could tell the excitement in the room.”
Matt Bennett, executive vice president of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way who has worked on several presidential campaigns, said personal “chemistry” may be the most important factor in choosing Harris.
“I don’t know if Harris has a real hole to fill, so instead, if I were Harris, I would go to the person I feel most comfortable with,” Bennett said.
Vulnerabilities
While Cooper is unlikely to have any skeletons in his closet, Republicans would likely revive criticism of his handling of a 2018 hurricaneThe pipeline background and the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats, however, are more likely to raise concerns about his lieutenant governor, Republican Mark Robinson, who under state law becomes acting governor whenever the governor is out of state. (North Carolina elects the two offices separately, not as a ticket.)
Robinson, who is running for governor this year, is a deeply controversial figure who Democrats consider a Holocaust denial far-right ideologue. Then any concerns that Robinson could take advantage of Cooper’s absence from the campaign.
But Gerry Cohen, a North Carolina election law expert who spent 40 years working for the state Legislature’s nonpartisan staff, said there was little Robinson could do that couldn’t be immediately undone when Cooper returned to the state.
“We often had governors and vice-governors from different parties. … I don’t know of any problems occurring,” he said. “Republicans have a supermajority, so Cooper’s veto could be overridden either way, so I’m not sure what the real difference would be.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
