After fighting the virus, storms and Republicans, Gov. North Carolina’s Cooper is focused on winning

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is stepping down after eight years in which the southern Democrat chose his terms against the Republican-controlled legislature, won big on Medicaid expansion and clean energy while failing in private battles. -school vouchers and abortion rights.

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Cooper, who guided the state through the coronavirus pandemic, Hurricanes Helene and Florence and the outbreak of culture wars over access to public bathrooms, was denied a third consecutive term. He is wrapping up 24 consecutive years in national office – the first 16 as attorney general.

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In a December interview with the Associated Press at the mansion, Cooper reflected on his presidential terms with a positive emphasis — an easy task compared to many Democrats across the country after this year’s election.

“Being able to wake up every morning and lead the country you love is humble, challenging and satisfying. “I appreciated every day,” said Cooper, who will be succeeded by Attorney General Josh Stein, also a Democrat, in early January.

Faced with overwhelming evidence for almost half of his time as governor, Cooper has been unable to stop many of the GOP’s initiatives, including deep income tax cuts, taxpayer-funded vouchers to help public school students attend private schools and new abortion restrictions.

But Cooper, one of the few Democratic governors seen as a potential candidate for state office, managed last year to persuade GOP legislative leaders to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act _ something he has sought since he was sworn in as governor in 2017. Now 600,000 low-income adults are enrolled in the program a year earlier than expected.

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“This is an investment in people’s lives,” Cooper said during his farewell speech last week in Nash County, where he grew up and launched his first campaign for governor in 2015. Another bipartisan agreement was reached in 2021 on a major energy bill that mandated. sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Cooper takes credit for the conditions that have led to the expansion of companies that he says have contributed to the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs over the past eight years, including those in the clean energy industry. But he also offers rare recommendations to Republican lawmakers for working together to provide economic incentives that have attracted companies like Apple, Toyota and Boom Supersonic to build in the state.

Still, Republicans argue that Cooper gets too much credit for broad economic success and has consistently pushed for reckless spending. Most of his records are 100-plus written vetoes.

“There has never been a governor who has worked less hard on his agenda and North Carolina has succeeded despite the failures of his leadership,” said GOP spokesman Matt Mercer.

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Still, Cooper’s accomplishments in a volatile environment raised his national profile during this year’s presidential campaign, making him a running mate of Kamala Harris and saying it was “not the right time” for him in North Carolina. Now Cooper, 67, will have to decide whether a 2026 run to unseat US Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, is in the cards after holding what he calls “the best job I’ve ever had.”

Although North Carolina Democrats have won eight of the past nine gubernatorial elections, they have not won a US Senate race since 2008.

“If you’re going to run for public office again, you have to have your heart and soul, you have to have 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 to do next: “I’m going to think about how I can be the best part of the things I care about.”

It is surprising why many North Carolina Democrats want Cooper to continue on the political stage. He has never lost a race for state office, dating back to the legislature in the mid-1980s and including a 10,000-vote win over Gov. Then-GOP Pat McCrory in 2016.

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“What he’s really done in my opinion is keep the progressive flame alive in North Carolina during a difficult time,” said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic political consultant who worked with Gov. Jim Hunt. “I’m not sure anyone else could have done it as well as him.”

Cooper took on the Republicans even before he was sworn in.

As governor-elect, he began a series of lawsuits against a law passed just weeks before he took office that changed the power of the executive branch of the legislature. The legal consequences were mixed, and even now the case regarding his employability is still in court. This month, Republican lawmakers made additional changes that would weaken Stein’s executive authority. A case has been filed in court.

In his first three months in office, Cooper worked with lawmakers to partially repeal the 2016 “bathroom” bill, which required transgender people to use public restrooms that corresponded to the gender on their birth certificate. The law had cost the state business, including canceled sporting events and expanded jobs, and “North Carolina’s reputation was in tatters,” Cooper said.

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Eight years later, “we’re building a healthier, better-educated North Carolina, with more money in people’s pockets, and we’re ready to welcome prosperity with open arms for generations to come,” Cooper said.

Republicans cited several flaws in Cooper’s administration. It includes excessive spending of money in the country’s Department of Transportation; continued delays in rebuilding or repairing the homes of Eastern North Carolina residents after Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018; and executive orders that have helped ease restrictions on businesses and school instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was painful to work with the governor financially,” said Sen. Warren Daniel. “I think he is not good at running the government.”

Cooper defended his actions, particularly his leadership of the pandemic, saying North Carolina fared better than many other states.

Even in policy defeats, Cooper won praise from supporters. The Democratic governor used political capital in 2023 to try to block legislation that changed the state’s ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks of pregnancy to 12 weeks. Republicans overrode his veto.

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“No governor has fought as hard or as publicly as Gov. Cooper to protect access to abortion,” said Paige Johnson with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

Many North Carolinians see it differently. Cooper’s opposition to the abortion bill shows an administration that “has been opposed to policies that serve North Carolina families,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values ​​Coalition.

Cooper said he hoped Stein, who succeeded him as attorney general, “will continue the tremendous progress we have made.” Cooper hired Stein two decades ago, when he was attorney general, to be his chief consumer protection officer.

Beyond that, Cooper knows he will miss “having the opportunity every day to do something that makes a real difference.”

“That’s what you can do in this job,” he added. “And whatever I decide to do, it’s going to be hard to replicate.”

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