RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is leaving his post after eight years in which the Southern Democrat capitalized on his chances against a Republican-dominated Legislature and won major victories on expanding Medicaid and cleaners Energy scored while lagging in disputes over private budgets, school vouchers and abortion rights.
Cooper, who led the state through the coronavirus pandemic, hurricanes Helene and Florence and an early flashpoint in the culture wars over public restroom access, has been barred from seeking a third consecutive term. He has now served in statewide office for 24 consecutive years – the first 16 years as attorney general.
In an interview with The Associated Press in December at the executive mansion, Cooper reflected on his term as governor, emphasizing the positives – an easier task compared to many Democrats across the country after this year’s election.
“Waking up every morning and leading the state you love has been humbling, challenging and fulfilling. I really appreciated every day,” Cooper, who will be succeeded by Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, said in early January.
Facing veto-proof majorities for nearly half of his time as governor, Cooper was unable to stop many GOP initiatives, including deep income tax cuts, taxpayer-funded vouchers to lend a hand public school students attend private schools, and modern abortion restrictions.
But Cooper, one of several Democratic governors considered potential candidates for federal office, managed to convince Republican lawmakers last year to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act – something he has done since he was sworn in as governor last year had aimed for in 2017. Low-income adults will enter 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 landmark energy bill that mandated dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Cooper credits the conditions that led to major corporate expansions that he says have helped create hundreds of thousands of modern jobs over the past eight years, including in the immaculate energy sector. But he also praises Republican lawmakers for all working together to create economic incentives that have attracted companies like Apple, Toyota and Boom Supersonic to build in the state.
Still, Republicans contend that Cooper gets too much credit for the state’s broad economic success and has pushed for reckless government spending at every turn. Most of his more than 100 vetoes were overridden.
“There has been no governor whose agenda has been less implemented, and North Carolina has succeeded despite its leadership failures,” said state GOP spokesman Matt Mercer.
Regardless, Cooper’s perceived successes in a swing state raised his national profile during this year’s presidential campaign and made him a potential candidate for Kamala Harris until he said it was “just not the right time” for him and North Carolina. Now Cooper, 67, must decide whether to try to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in 2026 after holding the “best job I’ve ever had.”
While North Carolina Democrats have won eight of the last 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 put your heart and soul into it, you have to have the 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 comes next: “I’m going to think about how I can best contribute to things, that are crucial to me.”
It’s no wonder many North Carolina Democrats want Cooper to stay on the political scene. He has never lost a race for state office since he was the Legislature in the mid-1980s, winning by 10,000 votes in 2016 against then-Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
“What he has really done, in my view, 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 four-term Gov. Jim Hunt . “I’m not sure anyone else could have done it as well as he did.”
Cooper took on the Republicans even before he was sworn in.
As governor-elect, he launched a series of lawsuits challenging laws passed weeks before he took office that shifted powers from the executive branch to the legislature. The legal results have been mixed, and even now the legal battle over his appointment powers is still before the courts. This month, Republican lawmakers passed additional changes that would weaken Stein’s gubernatorial authority. A lawsuit was filed.
In his first three months in office, Cooper worked with lawmakers to partially repeal the 2016 “bathroom law,” which had required transgender people whose gender was listed on their birth certificates to operate public restrooms. The law lost state business, including canceled sporting events and job expansions, and “North Carolina’s reputation was in tatters,” Cooper said.
Eight years later, “we have built a North Carolina that is healthier, more educated, with more money in people’s pockets, and we are ready to welcome prosperity with open arms for generations to come,” Cooper said.
Republicans cite several flaws in Cooper’s administration. These include overspending at the state Department of Transportation; continued delays in rebuilding or renovating homes for residents in eastern North Carolina following Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018; and executive orders that helped expand restrictions on businesses and schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dealing with the governor was financially painful,” said Republican Sen. Warren Daniel. “I just think he’s not very good at running the government.”
Cooper has defended his actions, particularly his leadership on the pandemic, saying North Carolina has done better than many other states.
Even in political defeat, Cooper secured the admiration of his supporters. The Democratic governor deployed a lot of political capital in 2023, unsuccessfully trying to block a law that changed the state’s ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks of pregnancy to 12 weeks. The Republicans overrode his veto.
“There is simply no governor who has ever fought as hard and as publicly as Gov. 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 bill reflects an administration that “consistently opposes policies that serve the best interests of North Carolina families,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition.
Cooper said he was confident that Stein, who succeeded him as attorney general, “will continue a lot of the progress we’ve made.” Cooper hired Stein as his consumer protection chief two decades ago when he was attorney general.
Otherwise, Cooper knows he will miss “having the opportunity every day to do something to make a real difference.”
“That’s what you can do in this job,” he added. “And whatever I decide, it’s going to be hard to reproduce.”
