The 2024 presidential race won’t have a North Carolina personality near the top of the ticket this time around.
For a while, it looked like North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper might be the vice-presidential candidate on the ticket with current Vice President Kamala Harris – now a presidential hopeful.
However, on Monday, July 30, Cooper, who was considered to be on the short list of VP candidates, pulled his name out of contention.
That means the next time North Carolina is mentioned in a big way in relation to the presidential race will be when the votes are counted.
Polls show Trump leading in North Carolina but the state is still considered to be within reach of Harris if everything goes just right for her, and there was a lot of speculation that, if Cooper were on the ticket with Harris, the popular governor might help throw the state’s electoral votes into the camp of the brand new Democratic presidential contender.
Cooper is still obviously going to campaign hard for Harris.
In a July 30 post on social media site X, Cooper wrote, “I strongly support Vice President Harris’ campaign for President. I know she’s going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role. This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”
The governor added, “As I’ve said from the beginning, she has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.”
On a large Zoom call Monday night, Cooper was highly complimentary of Harris, but he didn’t mention his decision not to be part of the ticket.
“Kamala Harris is a strong woman,” he said on that call.
He said she would be running on “pocketbook issues” and added that she’s going to work to clean up the environment and “work to make sure that people have health care and quality education.”
“That’s the kind of person that we need,” the governor said.
It’s not clear why Cooper opted out but some have postulated that, at age 67, Harris would be better off with a younger VP pick, since now part of the strategy is to present Harris and her running mate as the ticket of the future and of youth, and to present Trump – now the oldest person ever to run for president – as the leader of a trip back into the past.
Harris has said she will make an announcement by the end of the first week in August.
One reason Cooper was thought to be high up on the list is that Harris is said to be fairly close to Cooper. She was the attorney general for the State of California at a time when Cooper was North Carolina’s attorney general, and the two worked together on a number of national cases that affected both states along with other states across the country.
When Harris was in Greensboro earlier this month, Cooper was shadowing her and the two were obviously getting along well and enjoying the visit.
Cooper was thought to be a great choice for VP for the Democrats for a number of reasons, including the fact that he’d been the governor in a battleground state dominated by a Republican legislature; the fact that he hasn’t faced any big political or personal scandals, and because he was available to hold office since his second term as governor is expiring and he can’t run for that office again.
Now, with Vice President Harris expected to choose as her running mate for the presidential election within a week, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly seem to be the top two contenders – though there are a half dozen other names that keep coming up as well.
The big appeal of Shapiro is that he’s very popular in Pennsylvania, considered to be a vital state for the Democrats.
Some Democratic pundits have said it’s not wise to pick a vice-presidential candidate just because you think he or she can deliver one particular state, but others say getting Shapiro on the ticket could make the difference between Harris winning and losing the election.
North Carolina is also considered to be a very important state in the 2024 election, which was one of the reasons Cooper was attractive as a VP possibility.
Harris has said she plans to be campaigning in battleground states with her VP pick next week, so the decision will be made soon.
On the Republican side of the ticket, former President Donald Trump has had a rough rollout of his vice-presidential pick: author and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who came under swift and forceful attack as soon as his name was announced.
A fake story about his having sex with couch cushions took off despite not being fact-based. Vance has also come under attack for being critical of “childless cat ladies” and for a February 2024 tweet he reposted that involved dolphins and women.
On a Sunday morning news show this week, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Trump may replace Vance before the election; however, Trump has been openly supportive of Vance in all of his public statements so far.
Pun intended, I am sure
Cooper did not want to go down with the ship and end his political career as a loser. Nothing more complicated than that. I hope that Harris does run on “pocketbook issues,” especially inflation, which is a major “pocketbook issue.” As far as Josh Shapiro, nominate him and lose every Muslim vote. Cooper characterizes Harris as a strong woman. If by that description, Cooper is suggesting that Harris has moral or intellectual power and talent, then Cooper is a disingenuous politician who will say anything to advance the Democrat party. If Harris is the Democrat nominee, regardless who her running mate is, JD Vance will wipe the floor with him/her.
I think his fear was letting our weird Lt Governor take over a Governor while he was on the campaign trail.
False. He could maintain his role while traveling as governors often do. It’s not like Joe handed over the Presidency to Kamala every time he was out campaigning. No, wait, he did that from his basement hiding spot.
Flies the *coup*?
English much?
It’s “coop.” C-O-O-P. Not “coup,” as in coup d’etat.
Does that mean… he’s ‘chicken’ ? :o)
You might say so.
Roy Cooper polled at less than 25% when it came to national recognition. Add that to his age and he’s a nonstarter.
In politics you live by the polls and die by the polls, RIP Roy.
Lol. Schumer can say whatever but it’s the democrats that pull the switcheroos.
“Coup” is neither pronounced the same nor has the same meaning as “Coop”. If a pun was intended, I don’t think it worked. Otherwise, and as usual, another fine Scott D. Yost article!
Against whom is the “Coup of VP Contenders” directed?
JD Vance.
The Coop doesn’t want to go down with the ship.
Well, I hope he is able to recoup any lost time wasted on this.
And just like that, the breezes smelled better all across the American Fruited Plains!
He knew he would have been on a losing ticket
Having spent many years here in NC, but being raised in California (dad was in the Air Force), I earnestly hope that Harris goes down in flames. You see, sadly, you cannot export the natural beauty of a state like California, but you can export the horrendous ideas that its politicians have concocted. People fail to realize that you cannot legislate Utopia (although the lefties on the Left Coast will continue trying). A vote for Harris is a vote for decaying moral standards, rampant crime, unabated illegal immigration, inflation, and government control over your life.
It probably doesn’t help that Josh Stein is boasting about cleaning up a bunch of problems in the AG’s office that his predecessor (Cooper) left behind.
This is heartening that he is not going to be inflicted on the whole country.
I think Roy Cooper is a Joke he has done nothing for NC at all this man would never make it to VP status he is not smart enough and he thinks he will run for senator in 2028 what a Joke he needs to retire from politics and never run for any office again.