All eyes on Gov. Roy Cooper, and his ability to keep N.C. in play for Democrats
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N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper and his wife, Kristin Cooper. Photo: Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
National interest in North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is soaring, as speculation into who might be Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate mounts, Google Trends data shows.
Why it matters: Cooper's ascending national profile will raise the intrigue of North Carolina — a state the Biden-Harris campaign had been targeting before President Biden dropped out of the race Sunday afternoon — in the lead-up to the election.
The big picture: Cooper himself has said that the presidential race runs through North Carolina.
- If he's selected to run alongside Harris, that could be even more true.
The latest: Americans are Googling Cooper — and other possible VP picks — now more than ever, aside from in 2020 when he gained notoriety as he guided the state through COVID.
- Meanwhile, Cooper also appeared on MSNBC Monday morning. Though he deflected questions about being on the presidential ticket, the national TV appearance was something of a debut. He used it to rattle off signs of progress in North Carolina, including a new bridge in Wilmington.
Zoom in: At the federal level, North Carolina looks like a red state, but if you look closer, it's still purple, at least for now.
- Voters here haven't elected a Democratic U.S. Senate or presidential candidate since 2008, when Sen. Kay Hagan beat incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole and former President Obama carried the state by less than 14,000 votes.
- Cooper's one of the remaining reasons North Carolina is still considered a swing state. Election after election, he's won statewide contests — from state attorney general to governor to second-term governor — in years when the state's voters also chose Republicans like former President Trump for federal office.
The intrigue: Cooper has never lost an election. His appeal is broad: He's a former Sunday school teacher from rural Nash County who grew up working on his parents' tobacco farm.
- He earned a reputation of being a moderate and a bipartisan dealmaker during his days in the state legislature in the late '80s and '90s, during which he once bucked the Democratic establishment and joined forces with Republicans to oust the state House speaker.
- He's known for being cautious and deliberate, as seen in his approach to the pandemic — North Carolina had a relatively low rate of COVID-19-related deaths compared to the rest of the South — and his recent handling of the Biden controversy in the last month. But he does have a side of political ruthlessness.
- He presided over the state when it was named CNBC's Best in Business two years in a row, and he's earned accolades among national Democrats for his undoing of the consequences of GOP legislation like HB2 and blocking Republicans from achieving their biggest goals.
The bottom line: It's often said that a vice president can only hurt a presidential campaign, but it's unlikely to help it.
- But the Cooper effect has kept North Carolina in play for Democrats, even as Republicans have made massive gains in the state, and that's certainly one reason he's in the conversation.