Free passes, patty-cake, Me-Tooism from NCGOP got Roy Cooper where he is today

It’s kind of strange to finally hear the Raleigh Republican establishment speak up about Roy Cooper. He’s survived 37 years in state elected office with nary a scratch.   Now out of office, Cooper sits pretty as a Democrat who can get things done – Medicaid expansion, anyone — in a GOP controlled legislature.  

The mostly kid-gloves treatment Raleigh Republicans have given Cooper during his political career may come back to haunt them in the 2026 US Senate campaign.

Me-Too on the Issues. 

Republicans are already hard at work trying to paint Cooper as extreme on the issues.  I saw something from the state party’s media guy the other day attacking Cooper for his support of solar energy and government subsidies of solar energy.  The problem?  If you review history within the General Assembly, you will find that a lot of elected Republicans in that body were the biggest boosters of the concept of subsidizing solar energy.  The last two GOP state House speakers who now happen to be  in Washington — Thom Tillis and Tim Moore — bent over backwards for the solar lobby in Raleigh.

Another line of attack involves hitting Cooper for his alleged relationship with a Democrat Party official who apparently has a record of conviction on sex offenses.  (Do we really need to revisit a certain super-connected NCGOP operative who also has a record of conviction on sex offenses? And point out all the elected officials said NCGOP operative has ties to?)

State Republicans are also on record making one hell of a U-turn on Medicaid expansion.  After initially holding firm and refusing to budge, they ended up aiding and abetting Cooper in expanding the state’s budget-busting, hugely-wasteful Medicaid program.

Elections

Roy Cooper served from 1987 to 2001 in the North Carolina General Assembly.   From 1987 to 1991, he represented the state’s 72nd district in the North Carolina House.  He was preceded and followed in that district by Democrats.  In 1991, Cooper moved up to the 10th state Senate district — preceded by and followed by Democrats.  His last four years in that chamber included a stint as majority leader under Marc Basnight.

Roy Cooper spent 14 years total in the legislature — never under threat of being unseated by Republicans.

Attorney General: Cooper first ran for AG in 2000 when incumbent Mike Easley set his sights on the governor’s mansion.   George W.`Bush won a closely-contested presidential race, while Easley knocked off Republican Richard Vinroot 52 percent-46 percent.  Cooper took the AG race against Republican Dan Boyce by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent.  The AG’s race that year was roiled by a pro-Cooper attack ad against Boyce resulting in a lawsuit against the Cooper campaign that dragged on for years before a settlement was reached.

The 2004 race for attorney general featured a general election between Cooper and Raleigh attorney Joe Knott (R). Cooper ended up winning 56 percent to 44 percent. George W. Bush was reelected president with a slightly more comfortable margin than 2000.  Mike Easley (D) was reelected governor 56 percent to 43 percent over Republican challenger and former state senator Patrick Ballantine.

The 2008 race for attorney general featured a general election between Cooper and Bob Crumley (R), an attorney in private practice.  Cooper won 61 percent to 39 percent.  Obama won The White House and Democrat Bev Perdue knocked off the GOP’s  Pat McCrory by a margin of 50 percent to 47 percent.

For some reason, Republicans allowed Roy Cooper to run for reelection unopposed in 2012.  North Carolina elected Republican Pat McCrory to the governor’s office (55 percent to 43 percent), while Obama got four more years in The White House.

Governor:  Cooper decided to go for the governor’s office in 2016.  What was so interesting that year?  Incumbent Republican Pat McCrory‘s campaign was being managed by current Trump political guru Chris LaCivita.  

Cooper’s campaign was a target-rich environment.  He stumbled and bumbled his way through the tragic, horrible, no-good Duke Lacrosse case that brought a lot of unwanted national attention to North Carolina. Unfortunately, a combo of right-place, right-time and a compliant sycophant drive-by media helped the AG come out smelling much better.

 Cooper also oversaw a crime lab that was so poorly managed that the state’s lawmen and prosecutors couldn’t get their evidence processed for court in a timely manner. Local authorities were having to contract with private entities in order to get their CSI work done.

Cooper also encouraged left-wing national groups to boycott North Carolina and its businesses. An unusual tactic for someone claiming to love his state and wanting it to prosper.

For some reason, the McCrory campaign didn’t find any of that interesting.  Cooper ended up ekeing out a late-night come-from-behind 11,000-vote win against the incumbent Republican.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump had his first presidential victory in North Carolina that year.

In 2020, Cooper ran for reelection amid a COVID-lockdown environment against incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Forest (R).  There could have been a field day for Republicans in bashing Cooper’s heavy-handed response to COVID. Or his apparent alliance with Black Lives Matter rioters.  (Of course, NC Young Republicans under Mike Whatley also struck an alliance with BLM.)

But we got next to nothing. Cooper, however, got a 52 percent to 47 percent win.

And NOW. 

By 2010 or 2011, it was pretty clear that Roy Cooper was transforming into North Carolina Democrats’ Goliath.  It made sense for them to aim Cooper at the GOP’s light-weight gubernatorial incumbent.  Yet, Republicans felt it was nifty to let him go unopposed in 2012.  Why not rough him up in anticipation of a big move in 2016?

The Thom Tillis wing of the NCGOP — which unfortunately calls the shots these days — has made it tough to seriously go after Democrats and their liberal agenda.  Way too many elected Republicans have also been tap-dancing on the left side of the spectrum  (i.e., Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization, solar and wind subsidies).

The Tillis wing is pushing a Senate candidate against Cooper who thinks the J6 prisoners should not have been pardoned and got exactly what they deserved. That candidate has also lobbied the federal government for solar, wind and other alternative energy subsidies. He also thinks the party needs to get more ‘purple’ — closer to the Democrat way of thinking.

Jesse Helms got 30 years in DC doing the absolute opposite of all that. 

Running for office promising to spend just five percent or so less than the Democrats is not exactly the way to excite the electorate, capture their imagination, and turn things around.