The day President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris moved up to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper joined the veepstakes.
But he privately declined from the start to be considered, according to a source close to the governor.
And on Monday evening, he publicly took himself out of the running, saying it “just wasn’t the right time.”
“I strongly support Vice President Harris’ campaign for President. I know she’s going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role. This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket,” Cooper posted on social media.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, she has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins,” he said.
Earlier Monday evening, The New York Times first reported that Cooper has withdrawn from the race, prompting the public statement.
Cooper and Harris served as state attorneys general at the same time, and Cooper had a record of winning elections and on his way out of office at the end of the year running a swing state.
Harris’ campaign declined to comment to McClatchy.
Cooper has declined to comment about being featured on lists of possible running mates. On Monday night, he spoke on a “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom call with tens of thousands of other white men watching, but did not address the reports about the vice presidential job.
On Thursday, at his first Harris campaign event since the Democratic presidential race was upended, Cooper said he trusted Harris to make the right decision for VP and that he wanted her to “choose the person that gives her the best chance to win.”
One concern of some Democrats had been that when Cooper is out of state, the acting governor is Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor. But North Carolina’s governor has much less power than other states, as law and the constitution delivers most of the power to the General Assembly.
The source close to Cooper said he didn’t think now was the right time to run for vice president, but that he also believed Robinson would bring an element of chaos to Harris’ campaign that she didn’t need.
The source said they could imagine Cooper on a campaign bus in Michigan trying to talk with voters, only to hear that Robinson did something back home that required Cooper’s immediate attention.
But with Cooper’s name circulating, he felt that publicly bowing out could slow momentum for Harris, the source said. Cooper didn’t want his lack of interest to be misconstrued as looking like he wasn’t on Harris’ team. So he stayed quiet.
The Legislature is entirely controlled by Republicans, with a veto-proof supermajority, so lawmakers can pass any law they want without needing a Republican governor to sign off on it. However the governor, or acting governor, can issue executive orders and make declarations, as Robinson did in 2023 when Cooper was in Japan. Robinson declared a week of solidarity with Israel in October, in the wake of Hamas’ terrorist attack there.
On the “White Dudes” call for Harris on Monday night, Cooper used his time to speak against former President Donald Trump and Robinson, saying that they and other MAGA Republicans show “disrespect of women.”
Cooper’s term isn’t up until Dec. 31, and the new governor is sworn in in January. Robinson’s opponent is Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, a longtime friend and colleague of Cooper, who has also been Stein’s mentor.
Cooper has said he wants to continue working in public service after his term.
That could mean a Cabinet spot or other appointed job in the Harris administration if she wins in November. Biden already alluded to that in a Raleigh visit this past spring. Cooper may also decide to run for U.S. Senate in 2026. He could also run again for governor in the future, as the term limit applies only to consecutive terms.
Other VP possibilities
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Biden and his team were focused on winning states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.
So when Biden dropped out of the race, and Harris took over, the top contenders for her potential running mate came from some of those very states.
But more than a dozen names had been floated from governors to senators to members of Biden’s Cabinet. And political pundits made guesses regularly on who of the potential nominees was up, and who was down, while many pointed out that vice presidential candidates often have very little sway with voters on the vote for for president.
But there were cases to be made for each.
Democrats need to retain Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the Electoral College, which could be why both Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro might have been enticing.
But Whitmer, co-chair of Harris’ campaign, said she would fulfill her term as governor, which expires on Jan. 1, 2027. She took herself out of the running.
Shapiro faced the same problem, but he, along with several other Democrats, was reportedly vetted by Harris’ campaign as a possible running mate. If Shapiro helped Harris retain Pennsylvania, that would in turn lock in 19 electoral votes.
But it also could promote a Republican within the state. If Shapiro left, either because he became vice president, or stepped down to focus on the campaign, it would launch a succession plan that would promote Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, a Democrat, to governor and Senate leader Kim Ward, a Republican, to lieutenant governor. Promoting a Republican to a higher leadership position could give the Harris team pause.
Then there is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. His political history is short, but the retired, decorated Navy captain traveled more than 20 million miles in space as an astronaut before retiring from NASA in 2011 to take care of his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered from a severe brain injury after being shot in an attempted assassination at a campaign event in Tucson, Arizona. Kelly and Giffords now work together on gun reform.
And many believe Kelly, who is seen as a moderate Democrat, could help take pressure off Harris on immigration issues. She has been repeatedly criticized by Republicans, since launching her campaign, for not doing enough at the southern border. Kelly is outspoken in his feelings that a lot of Democrats don’t understand enough about the border and a lot of Republicans who talk about the border don’t actually want to do anything to help it.
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© 2024 McClatchy Washington Bureau
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