Quick Hit: Gov. Cooper interviewed at DNC
NC Governor Roy Cooper was interviewed by Politico at the DNC in Chicago
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper was interviewed by POLITICO’s Chief Washington Correspondent Ryan Lizza at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19.
During the interview, Cooper said Harris-Walz is the “perfect team to take on Donald Trump and JD Vance.” Throughout the interview, he attacked Trump and touted Harris as an “experienced” candidate who will continue the Biden-Harris administration’s work.
Cooper hit out at Lt. Governor Mark Robinson who is running for governor and Michelle Morrow, the Republican candidate for superintendent of public instruction, who he called a “right-wing conspiracy theorist.”
The governor ratcheted up the rhetoric, slamming Congressman Dan Bishop who is running for NC attorney general as “part of the Marjorie Taylor Green cabal in Congress” and that “he's also the author of the infamous bathroom bill in North Carolina when he was a state legislator and, of course, as an election denier.”
When asked what the “most unpopular thing you ever did in North Carolina” was, Cooper said, “that time I wore my Duke jersey.”
Watch the interview:
More To The Quick Hit:
The same night Cooper gave his interview to Politico, President Joe Biden claimed, “During the pandemic Kamala and I helped states and cities get their schools back open.”
This is untrue, as I explained in a thread on X the following day. The Biden-Harris administration deferred to the CDC on this issue.
In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper refused to reverse his executive order that closed schools in the state. The General Assembly had to run two bills to get schools reopened; Cooper vetoed the first one.
Press conf. was held on Mar. 10, 2021 in Raleigh announcing the governor was going to approve the 2nd bill. When I asked why he wasn't using an exec. order to open schools, the governor said, “we need to do this in a collaborative way.”
Since Cooper was in Chicago on the 19th, and it is unclear if he is still there, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is the acting governor. It’s unlikely Robinson was informed, as historically Cooper has left the state without telling his lieutenant governor, which former Lieutenant Governor Dan Forrest frequently noted. Robinson assuming the governorship, even temporarily, was one of the reasons Cooper had given for withdrawing his name from vice president contention.
Related Flashback: Democrats ran attack ads against Trump for wanting to reopen schools as a way to "save his reelection."