Roy Cooper Attorney General North Carolina: Fill & Download for Free

As someone who lives here, I’m not sure that they can. The Democratic Party in North Carolina is already very well organized and has a strong party infrastructure. It was already strong and it got even stronger when Obama targeted the state in 2008. Their problem in North Carolina is that when they lost power, the Republicans saw an opportunity to consolidate control through gerrymandering, changes to existing laws, and amendments to the constitution, and they have jumped at it.Obama won North Carolina in ‘08, and while Romney and Trump narrowly carried the state in ’12 and ‘16, NC voters unseated their GOP Governor in 2016 and elected moderate Democrat Roy Cooper in the same election where they opted for Trump. The GOP has a 10–3 edge in House seats, but as recently as 2013, it was 7–6 in favor of the Dems. Republicans have managed to very cleverly draw the districts here in their favor, but it’s not all just gerrymandering—there was a substantial backlash in North Carolina from some of Obama’s policies, and it really hasn’t washed out. Cooper was able to win because: 1) incumbent Pat McCrory pandered to the far-right here on issues like a “bathroom bill” and other ultraconservative measures; and 2) Cooper was the Attorney General here for many years and did a lot in the way of consumer protection in this state. He is very respected—enough to win in a presidential election year where he had Hillary’s presidential candidacy as a millstone around his neck. I have met him more than once over the years, and I voted for him in 2016 myself. If he runs for a second term in 2020, I will again—especially since he’s a brake on those far-right asshats in the General Assembly.

Sure, I’ve met many Democratic politicians at local levels that I have respected over the years. I’ve spent so many years as a professional journalist that it was inevitable that I’d meet Democrats. I’ve interviewed many of them and even voted for some of them.I once had a Democratic candidate in my district show up at the office of the newspaper I was working at, and my receptionist had put up a giant George W. Bush banner behind her desk without asking if it was OK—that was one I had to straighten out, although the candidate herself wasn’t upset. I told the story here: John Cate's answer to How does a journalist best deal with personal bias, or covering topics that have personal relevance?I’ve spoken many times with the current Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, who was the state’s Attorney General for 16 years before he was elected Governor in 2016 (he beat an incumbent GOP Governor even though the state voted for Trump). He was a great advocate for the people of North Carolina as AG, and I have tremendous respect for the man.Governor Cooper showed up in Pilot Mountain, just down the road from here, a few weeks back to honor a local legend of a high-school football coach who retired last year with 293 wins. The coach is also a Democrat, one who served several terms in the N.C. House of Representatives and later led the county’s Democratic Party, in a county that voted about 70/30 for Trump. They named the stadium at his old high school in his honor, and the place was packed—and I promise you they weren’t all Democrats.I respect Bernie Sanders as a man of principle, even if I think his principles are dead wrong. Don’t know if you count him as a Democrat, but he did run for President as one. And I’ve found no reason not to respect Tulsi Gabbard, although her advocacy for some of Bernie’s ideas…ugh.The former Governor of Tennessee (1987–95), Ned McWherter, was a good man, and he had to be in order to win two elections for Governor of Tennessee as a Democrat.And last but certainly not least, I know an amazing woman named Kayrenne Walker who self-identifies as an old-school Southern Democrat. If you read my answers on a regular basis, you know how I feel about her.I’m sure I could think of others, but you get the idea. I’ve never judged anyone just by the party they signed up for.

I’ve actually met North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper several times over the years. He represented Nash County in the North Carolina General Assembly when I was in high school, and I later encountered him many more times both there and during his 16 years as Attorney General, as I became a professional journalist. I’ve even had him sitting across from me in my office at a newspaper that doesn’t even exist anymore.He’s an intelligent, articulate man who was able to defeat a sitting Republican Governor in an election year where North Carolina voted for Donald Trump as a state. That was no mean feat. He is the first person to unseat a sitting North Carolina Governor who was eligible for and running for re-election since 1850.I don’t agree with all of his political positions, which is true of any Democrat, but I do respect the guy. During his years as North Carolina’s AG, the people of this state couldn’t have asked for a better advocate. Anytime someone was doing business in North Carolina and engaging in unlawful and/or predatory business practices, you could call Cooper’s office and you could be assured they would take action. I did it a few times myself, and the matter was resolved—and it wasn’t just because he knew I was a member of the working press. I know others called and got help from the AG’s office, too. And I’m sure that helped him win last November. I voted to re-elect him as AG twice. It wasn’t necessary the third time—in 2012, the Republicans didn’t even bother to run a candidate against him.So far, there’s not much to say about him one way or the other as Governor. He’s at loggerheads with a General Assembly that is controlled by the GOP, with a majority that has allowed them to override some of his vetoes. But as Democrats go, you can do a hell of a lot worse than Cooper.