This New York Times AND CNN were the first to report Monday evening that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper had withdrawn from his bid for vice president alongside nearly certain Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
This was confirmed by reports from two national media outlets, both of which cited anonymous sources. story published this morning by Bloomberg that Harris’ team has narrowed its focus to three potential candidates: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly.
It has long been common practice for candidates seeking high-ranking government positions to withdraw from the recruitment process as soon as they learn that they will not be nominated.
In positionLater that evening, Cooper confirmed the news on social media platform X:
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) July 30, 2024
Cooper did not address the vice presidential candidate Monday night because he was attending a virtual fundraiser organized by the group “White Dudes for Harris.” Cooper used his four minutes in the national spotlight to tell supporters that this disrespect for women permeates Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.
Cooper then turned his attention to a series of statements attributed to Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor.
“Here are some horrible things that Mark Robinson said, and I think he’s saying the not-so-silent part for MAGA Republicans. He said that men should lead, not women. He said that once women get pregnant, it’s not their body anymore. He said that women who aren’t responsible enough to keep their skirts down have abortions. That’s the kind of disrespect for women that we see from MAGA Republicans, and especially from their leaders,” Cooper said.
Cooper called Harris a powerful woman who cares about the purse strings. “So here’s what I’ll tell you, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid to go out and talk to your friends about what this race means, what Kamala Harris means to be president, what it means to our country. I know we all love our country, and now we can show it by putting in the work,” Cooper said.
As NC Newsline previously reported, Cooper was considered a powerful candidate for vice president because of his status as a popular Democratic governor in a state that was so uncertain that he almost always voted Republican in the last presidential election. The fact that he is nearing the end of his second term, is ineligible to run again this fall and has a long-standing relationship with Harris, dating back to their years as attorneys general of North Carolina and California, were also considered powerful selling points.
Some observers, however, have noted that at 67, Cooper is the oldest of the potential candidates and is not known as a particularly gifted orator. The fact that North Carolina law makes the state’s lieutenant governor “acting governor” when the actual governor is out of state has also been seen by some as a potential liability, given that Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is the Republican nominee for the state’s highest office in the fall.
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