Roy Cooper | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cooper in 2023 | |
| 75thGovernor of North Carolina | |
| In office January 1, 2017 – January 1, 2025 | |
| Lieutenant | Dan Forest Mark Robinson |
| Preceded by | Pat McCrory |
| Succeeded by | Josh Stein |
| 50thAttorney General of North Carolina | |
| In office January 6, 2001 – January 1, 2017 | |
| Governor | |
| Preceded by | Mike Easley |
| Succeeded by | Josh Stein |
| Majority Leader of theNorth Carolina Senate | |
| In office July 17, 1997 – January 1, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Conder |
| Succeeded by | Tony Rand |
| Member of theNorth Carolina Senate from the10th district | |
| In office February 21, 1991 – January 1, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Ezzell |
| Succeeded by | A. B. Swindell |
| Member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives from the72nd district | |
| In office February 9, 1987 – February 21, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Allen Barbee |
| Succeeded by | Edward McGee |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roy Asberry Cooper III (1957-06-13)June 13, 1957 (age 68) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent | Roy Asberry Cooper Jr. (father) |
| Relatives | Pell Cooper (brother) |
| Education | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA,JD) |
| Signature |  |
Roy Asberry Cooper III (/ˈkʊpər/KUUP-ər;[1][a] born June 13, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 75thgovernor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025. A member of theDemocratic Party, he was the 50thattorney general of North Carolina from 2001 to 2017 and served in theNorth Carolina General Assembly from 1987 to 2001.[2]
Born and raised inEastern North Carolina, Cooper graduated fromUNC Chapel Hill in 1979. He began his career as a lawyer and in 1986 was elected to represent the72nd district in theNorth Carolina House of Representatives. In 1991, he was appointed a member of the North Carolina Senate, a position he held until 2001. He was elected North Carolina Attorney General in2000 and reelected in2004,2008, and2012, serving for nearly 16 years, the longest tenure for an attorney general in the state's history.
Cooper defeatedRepublican incumbentPat McCrory for the governorship in a close race in the2016 election.[3] This election made Cooper the first challenger to defeat a sitting governor in the state's history. Cooper was reelected in2020 against the Republican nominee,Lieutenant GovernorDan Forest.[4] The Republican-dominated legislature passed bills in a special session to reduce the power of the governor's office before he took office, but Cooper continued to emphasize increases in education and healthcare funding throughout his tenure, culminating in successful negotiations of statewideMedicaid expansion.
In July 2025, Cooper announced his candidacy for theU.S. Senate in the2026 election.[5]
Roy Asberry Cooper III was born inNashville, North Carolina, on June 13, 1957, to Beverly Thorne (née Batchelor) (1929–2013), a teacher, andRoy Asberry Cooper II (1927–2015), a lawyer and Democratic Partyoperative who was a close advisor toJim Hunt; he later co-chaired Hunt's successful1976 gubernatorial campaign.[6][7][8] He is a descendent of Marcom Cooper, who served as agrand juror and as apetit juror during theAmerican Revolutionary War.[9] Cooper is the brother of district court judgePell Cooper.[9] He attended public schools and worked on his parents' tobacco farm during summers.[10] He attendedNorthern Nash High School, where he was an athlete, a participant inBoys State, and a member of student government.[11] During his senior year, he was selected to representNash County in theYouth Legislative Assembly.[11] He graduated in 1975.[6]
Cooper received theMorehead Scholarship at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies. As an undergraduate at UNC, he was a member of theChi Psi fraternity and was elected president of the university'sYoung Democrats.[12] He earned aJuris Doctor degree from theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law in 1982.[6]
While Cooper was still in law school, then-GovernorJim Hunt appointed him to the State Goals and Policy Board, an advisory group that sought to achieve long- and short-range goals and policies for the state.[13] He was the youngest person ever to serve on the board.[14] Hunt also appointed Cooper to the Interim Balance Growth Board and the North Carolina 2000 Commission.[15] He was also a member of the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce andUNC-Chapel Hill's Board of Visitors.[16]
In 1982, Cooper joined the law firm Fields, Cooper & Henderson in Nashville, North Carolina, the same firm his father had been a founding member of.[17][18][19] Three years later, he was named a partner in the firm.[20] In 1984, Cooper served as theRocky Mount andNash County chairman ofLauch Faircloth's unsuccessfulgubernatorial campaign.[15]
On November 19, 1985, Cooper filed to run for theNorth Carolina House of Representatives in the 72nd district.[21] He challenged 12-term incumbentAllen Barbee in the Democratic primary and ran on a campaign of supportingagriculture and resolving a school merger dispute in Nash County.[22][23] Cooper won the primary with 76% of the vote to Barbee's 24%, including more than a six times gap in votes for Nash county (5,966 vs 884), and he was unopposed in the general election.[24][25]
Cooper continued to practice law while serving in the legislature.[26] The nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research ranked him the most effective freshman representative.[27] In January 1989, he joined Republicans and 20 other dissident Democrats to unseat SpeakerListon B. Ramsey in favor ofJosephus Mavretic,[28] who appointed Cooper chair of the House Judiciary Committee, of which he had been a member during his first term.[29] Cooper also voted with all House Republicans and 15 Democrats in favor of an unsuccessful attempt to amend the constitution to grant the governorveto power over legislation.[30]
In February 1991, after State SenatorJim Ezzell was killed in a car crash, Cooper was appointed to the Senate to serve the remainder of Ezzell's term representing the 10th district, which encompassed parts ofEdgecombe,Halifax,Nash, andWilson Counties.[31][32] In 1995, Cooper negotiated a compromise bill to schedule a referendum to amend the constitution and grant the governor veto power.[30] In July 1997, he was elected Majority leader of the Senate upon Richard Conder's abrupt resignation.[33] During his last term in the Senate, he was elected to theNorth Carolina Bar Association's Board of Governors, a position he held until June 2002.[16]
Cooper's record in the legislature included implementing penalties for minors who bring guns to school, making public records more accessible, toughening the state's open meetings law, and giving the governor more veto power.[32]
In January 2000, Cooper filed with the stateBoard of Elections to launch a campaign for North Carolina attorney general.[34] In the Novembergeneral election, he defeated Republican lawyer Dan Boyce andReform Party candidate Margaret Palms.[35] He took office on January 6, 2001, and was reelectedin 2004. He was easily reelected in2008, defeating Republican Bob Crumley and garnering more votes than any other statewide candidate that year.[36] Cooper ran unopposed for a fourth term in2012,[37] and received 2,828,941 votes.[38]
Both state and national Democrats attempted to recruit Cooper to run for governor in2008,[39] theU.S. Senate in2010,[40] and again for governor in2012, but he declined each time.[41] A 2009Public Policy Polling survey matching him against incumbent U.S. SenatorRichard Burr showed Cooper leading Burr by four points.[42]
In 2001, Cooper initiated legislation that established new mentoring and tutoring programs for middle and high school students out on short-term suspension.[43] GovernorMike Easley signed the bill in June of that year.[44]
In 2002, a controversy arose after theNorth Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles was accused of covering up the speeding citation issued for DemocraticU.S. House candidate James Ferguson during the 2000 campaign, and theNorth Carolina Republican Party called on Cooper to launch an investigation.[45] Faced with potential fallout for investigating members of his own party, Cooper called on federal prosecutors to convene an investigative grand jury, arguing that they had powers to compel testimony not available to the state.[46][47]
In January 2007, when Durham District AttorneyMike Nifong asked to be recused from dealing with theDuke lacrosse case, Cooper's office assumed responsibility for the case. On April 11, 2007, after revelations of Nifong's withholding of evidence, fabrications, and other ethics violations, Cooper dismissed the case against the Duke lacrosse team players, taking the extraordinary step of declaring them "innocent" and victims of a "tragic rush to accuse".[48] The decision won him bipartisan praise.[12]
Days after the 2007Virginia Tech shooting, Cooper created the Campus Safety Task Force to analyzeschool shootings and make policy recommendations to help the government prevent and respond to them. The task force delivered its report in January 2008. After the release of its findings, Cooper assisted members of the North Carolina General Assembly in passing a law that required court clerks to recordinvoluntary commitments in a national gun permit database.[49]
After a 2010 decision by a three-judge panel to exonerate Gregory Taylor, who had served nearly 17 years for thefirst-degree murder of Jaquetta Thomas, Cooper ordered an audit after it was learned that officials at theNorth Carolina State Bureau of Investigation forensic lab had withheld information.[50] This suppression of evidence had contributed to Taylor's conviction for murder. The audit was released in 2010; it found that it had been common practice for two decades for a select group of agents at the State Bureau of Investigation to withhold information.[51] In addition, they did not keep up with scientific standards and the latest tests. The two investigators,Chris Swecker and Micheal Fox, cited almost 230 cases tainted by these actions. Three people convicted in such cases had been executed; 80 convicts were still in prison. A massive state effort was undertaken to follow up on their cases.
In 2011 Cooper argued his first case before theUnited States Supreme Court,J. D. B. v. North Carolina, a case related toMiranda rights in juvenile cases.[52][53] The Court ruled 5–4 against North Carolina.[54][55]
In 2014, after a majorcoal ash spill in theDan River, then-Governor Pat McCrory accused Cooper of politicizing the incident after Cooper criticizedDuke Energy, the company responsible for the spill.[56] McCrory later accused Cooper of "fighting against" efforts to clean up the spill, a claimWRAL-TV called "nonexistent".[57]
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Cooper ran for governor of North Carolina in the 2016 election against incumbent Republican Pat McCrory.[3] In March 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly passed thePublic Facilities Privacy & Security Act—commonly known as "House Bill 2"—which McCrory signed into law.[58][59] Numerous corporations began boycotting the state in protest of the law, cancelling job investment and expansion plans.[59] Cooper denounced the law as unconstitutional and refused to defend it in court in his capacity as attorney general.[60]
As a result of the economic damage the law caused, McCrory's approval rating fell dramatically in the months before the election.[59] When initial election results showed Cooper leading, McCrory claimed without evidence that the election had been manipulated by voter fraud. Recounts resulted in slightly higher margins of victory for Cooper,[61] and after an extended legal battle, McCrory conceded the election on December 5.[62] Out of 4.7 million total ballots, Cooper won by 10,227 votes.[63]
On December 5, 2019, Cooper announced his candidacy for reelection.[64] He won the November 3 election, defeating Republican nominee Lieutenant GovernorDan Forest 51.52% to 47.01%.[65]
Dismayed by Cooper's win, in late 2016 the General Assembly passed special legislation before he was inaugurated to reduce the power of the governor's office.[66] In whatThe New York Times described as a "surprise special session", Republican legislators moved to strip Cooper's powers before he assumed the governorship.[67] Throughout December, Cooper oversaw an attempt to repeal the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The repeal attempt failed after a deal between state Republican and Democratic lawmakers andCharlotte officials fell apart.
Cooper was sworn in as governor on January 1, 2017, in a small ceremony. His planned public inauguration was canceled due to a snowstorm.[68]
After taking office, as of January 6, 2017, Cooper requested federal approval forMedicaid coverage expansion in North Carolina.[69] Effective January 15, a federal judge halted Cooper's request, an order that expired on January 29.[70][71] In his first months in office, Cooper focused on repealing the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. After long negotiations with Republican state legislators, Cooper agreed in late March to sign a law prohibiting North Carolina cities from passing local ordinances pertaining to public accommodations or employment practices for three years in exchange for the reversal of the facilities act.[72] On May 9, 2017,PresidentDonald Trump appointed Cooper to a commission tasked with reducingopioid addiction.[73]
After theU.S. Supreme Court declared North Carolina's legislative maps unconstitutional,[74] Cooper called for a specialredistricting session on June 7, 2017,[75] but the House and Senate canceled the session, calling it unconstitutional.[76] On June 29, Cooper signed the STOP Act, an overhaul of the prescribing and dispensing regulations of opioids.[77]
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On July 1, Cooper signed into law a bill that allows alcohol sales after 10 AM on Sundays, nicknamed the "Brunch Bill".[78] On July 11, he signed "Britny's Law", which makes homicide first-degree murder if the killing was committed with malice and the defendant has been convicted of domestic violence or stalking the victim. He also signed bills to allow domestic violence protective orders granted by a judge to fully go into effect even when they are under appeal and to expand the state's "revenge porn" law from cases involving former lovers to those involving strangers.[79] On July 12, Cooper signed a bill that would add lessons on what to do when pulled over by law enforcement to the state's driver's education curriculum. The bill passed both chambers unanimously.[80]
On July 26, 2017, Cooper signed a bill to mount cameras on school buses in order to discourage drivers from illegally passing stopped buses.[81] On August 31, 2017, he declared astate of emergency due to plummeting gas supply,[82] which was rescinded on September 18.[83]
Fellow Appalachian governors elected Cooper co-chair of theAppalachian Regional Commission for 2019, making him the first North Carolina governor to co-chair the ARC since Jim Hunt in 1978.[84] In the 2018 elections, the Republican Party lost seats in the General Assembly, ending its supermajorities in both houses and rendering it unable to override gubernatorial vetoes.[85] On March 6, 2019, Cooper proposed a $25.2 billion budget for the year. It included salary increases for public school teachers and state workers, expansion of Medicaid, and a $3.9 billion bond (subject to a referendum) to help fund school construction and local infrastructure projects. Cooper said that he was confident he could get the legislature, without enough Republican members to override a veto, to implement some of his ideas.[86]
On February 11, 2020, Cooper announced the creation of a NovelCoronavirus Task Force for North Carolina ahead of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[87] On March 10, Cooper declared astate of emergency after the seventh reported case was identified in the state.[88] Four days later, he issued an executive order banning gatherings of over 100 people, and closed all K-12 schools for two weeks.[89] In June, he imposed a statewide face mask requirement for all areas open to the public.[90]
It was speculated that Cooper might run for the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring RepublicanRichard Burr in2022, but he announced in March 2021 that he would not.[91]
On March 27, 2023, Cooper signed into law landmark legislation expanding Medicaid after the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the bill through both houses, despite almost a decade of GOP opposition. It is estimated that over 600,000 low-income North Carolinians will become[when?] eligible for the state's Medicaid program.[92]
After PresidentJoe Bidenwithdrew from the2024 presidential election and Vice PresidentKamala Harris announced herpresidential campaign in July 2024, Cooper was named asa possible running mate for her.[93] He was reportedly seriously considered for the position and received vetting materials during the process,[94][95] but on July 29, he withdrew his name from consideration without giving a reason.[96]
On December 31, 2024, a day before leaving office, Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 inmates onNorth Carolina's death row.[97] Cooper was succeeded byJosh Stein.
During his first two years in office, Cooper faced a Republican supermajority in the General Assembly capable of overriding his vetoes, thereby limiting his legislative influence.[98] His first veto as governor was of a bill that would make elections to theNorth Carolina Superior Court and to the District Court partisan, after being conducted on a nonpartisan basis for many years.[99] The House overrode the veto on March 22, 2017.[100] The Senate followed suit on March 23, resulting in the bill becoming law over Cooper's objection.[101]
Cooper vetoed a bill on April 21, 2017, to reduce the size of theNorth Carolina Court of Appeals by three judges.[102] The veto was overridden on April 26.[103] He also vetoed a bill on April 21, 2017, that would create a newState Board of Elections (and new county boards of elections) split evenly between the Republicans and the Democrats. It would replace the longstanding system that gave the governor's party a majority on the board.[102] Both houses of the legislature voted to override the veto on April 24 and 25.[104]
Cooper also vetoed a bill that would limit individuals' ability to sue hog farms.[105] The legislature also overrode this veto.[106][107] On June 27, Cooper vetoed the proposed state budget, which he had called "irresponsible" the day before.[108] In his veto message, he cited the budget's income tax cuts and argued it "lacks structural integrity by failing to account for population growth, inflation and looming federal reductions, by using one-time revenue for recurring expenses, and by adopting a tax plan that will cause the state to fail to fund promised teacher salary increases in future years". He said the proposed bill included "provisions that infringe upon the governor's ability to faithfully execute the laws, including the administration of this Act, as required by the Constitution, and violating the separation of powers". The legislature overrode his veto the next day.[109]
In July 2017, Cooper vetoed a bill to authorize nonprofit organizations to operate "game nights", saying it would unintentionally create a new opportunity for thevideo poker industry.[110]
In December 2018, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill that would require new primary elections if a do-over election was called in the9th district election.[111] Cooper vetoed the bill due to a provision that made campaign finance investigations less public, but the General Assembly overrode his veto.[112] In total, during his first two years in office, Cooper vetoed 28 bills, 23 of which were overridden by the legislature.[113] As a result of the 2018 legislative elections, the Republicans lost their supermajority in the General Assembly, thus giving Cooper and legislative Democrats more leverage in legislative negotiations.[98]
In May 2019, Cooper vetoed a bill that proposed punishments in the form of prison time and fines against physicians and nurses who do not resuscitate newborns that survive an abortion.[114] He said that the "bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients"[115] and that laws "already protect newborn babies".[116]
On July 28, 2025, Cooper announced that he would run for theU.S. Senate in North Carolina in2026, seeking to succeed Republican incumbentThom Tillis, who had announced his retirement earlier that month.[117]
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Roy Cooper is married toKristin Cooper (née Bernhardt), who worked as aguardian ad litem for foster children inWake County.[118][119] They have three daughters, who all graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[120][121] Cooper has taught Sunday school classes, serving as adeacon and elder at White Memorial Presbyterian Church,[122] and is an avid fan of theNHL'sCarolina Hurricanes.[123] He became a member of theSons of the American Revolution in 2018.[9]
Cooper accepted a teaching position atHarvard University after his term as governor ended.[124]
In 2023, Cooper said thathis last name should actually be pronounced/ˈkʊpər/, with the letters "oo" resembling the "oo" sound in "foot", as opposed to the more frequently used/ˈkuːpər/, which most people have called him for many years. He explained that the former is a local pronunciation of "Cooper" inEastern North Carolina, where he grew up inNash County, and his name was always said this way until he went to college. He said that he is fine with people using the more common pronunciation.[1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper | 1,446,793 | 51.21 | |
| Republican | Dan Boyce | 1,310,845 | 46.40 | |
| Reform | Margaret Palms | 67,536 | 2.39 | |
| Total votes | 2,825,174 | 100.00 | ||
Roy Cooper ran unopposed in the 2004Democratic primary.[126]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper (inc.) | 1,872,097 | 55.61 | |
| Republican | Joe Knott | 1,494,121 | 44.39 | |
| Total votes | 3,366,218 | 100.00 | ||
Roy Cooper ran unopposed in the 2008Democratic primary.[128]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper (inc.) | 2,538,178 | 61.10 | |
| Republican | Bob Crumley | 1,615,762 | 38.90 | |
| Total votes | 4,153,940 | 100.00 | ||
Roy Cooper was the only candidate to file before the state's February 29 deadline, he ran unopposed in both theDemocratic Primary and General Election.[130]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper (inc.) | 2,828,941 | 100.00 | |
| Total votes | 2,828,941 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper | 710,658 | 68.70 | |
| Democratic | Ken Spaulding | 323,774 | 31.30 | |
| Total votes | 1,034,432 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper | 2,309,162 | 49.02 | ||
| Republican | Pat McCrory | 2,298,881 | 48.80 | ||
| Libertarian | Lon Cecil | 102,978 | 2.19 | ||
| Turnout | 4,711,021 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper (inc.) | 1,128,829 | 87.19 | |
| Democratic | Ernest T. Reeves | 165,804 | 12.81 | |
| Total votes | 1,294,633 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Roy Cooper (inc.) | 2,834,790 | 51.52% | ||
| Republican | Dan Forest | 2,586,604 | 47.01% | ||
| Libertarian | Steven J. DiFiore | 60,449 | 1.10% | ||
| Constitution | Al Pisano | 20,934 | 0.38% | ||
| Total votes | 5,502,777 | 100.0% | |||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)... unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients.
| North Carolina Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Majority Leader of theNorth Carolina Senate 1997–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forAttorney General of North Carolina 2000,2004,2008,2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of North Carolina 2016,2020 | |
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic Governors Association 2021–2022 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Mike Easley | Attorney General of North Carolina 2001–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of North Carolina 2017–2025 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by Pat McCrory as Former Governor | Order of precedence of the United States Within North Carolina | Succeeded byas Former Governor |
| Order of precedence of the United States Outside North Carolina | Succeeded byas Former Governor | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
