Roy Cooper is the current Governor of North Carolina who assumed office on January 1, 2017 as the successor of Pat McCrory. A member of North Carolina Democratic Party, Cooper held the office of Attorney General from 2001 to 2017 i.e. under three governors. He was recently succeeded by Josh Stein.
Early Life and Education
Roy Cooper was born on June 13, 1957 in a rural community of Nash County, North Carolina. Brought up by father Roy Asberry and mother Beverly Thorne, Cooper used to work in tobacco fields as a child. Completing high school education, Cooper got into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship for undergraduate studies. Later, he joined JD at the same university.
Personal Life
Roy Cooper is married to Kristin Cooper and the couple has three children: Natalie, Hillary and Claire Cooper.
Career
Prior to entering the North Carolina politics, Roy Cooper was a law practitioner at his family’s private law firm. However, the law career didn’t last long as he joined the North Carolina Hose of Representatives in 1986. In 1991, he was elected to the North Carolina Senate. As time passed by, Cooper became a particularly significant figure in politics and became the majority leader at the senate.
Having served in both North Carolina House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate, Roy Cooper decided to run for North Carolina Attorneyship General Election in 2000. As a Republican nominee, he faced Democrat candidate Dan Boyce and Reform candidate Margaret Palms in the election and won with 51.21% votes. After four years at the office, Cooper sought for another election in 2004 and defeated Republican Joe Knott with 55.61% votes. Likewise, he faced Bob Crumbley in 2008 and again won with 61.10%. In the 2012 attorneyship election, Cooper ran unopposed.
As North Carolina Attorney General, Roy Cooper handled the Duke Lacrosse Case and concluded in favor of the team. Likewise, he investigated the exoneration case of Gregor Taylor, the murderer of Jaquette Thomas, and found out a huge number of case mishandling in the North Carolina Judicial System. In 2011, he went on the bar as a defense on J.D.B v North Carolina case.
Leaving the office of Attorney General, Roy Cooper decided to run for Governor of North Carolina in 2016. He received the Democratic nomination with 68.7% votes against Ken Spaulding and joined incumbent Republican Governor Pat McCrory and Libertarian Lon Cecil. Cooper had a very tight victory with 49.02% votes as opposed to McCrory’s 48.8% votes. Cooper won with a margin of 10,281 votes out of 4.7 million votes cast. He assumed office on January 1, 2017 along with his running mate Dan Forest as Lieutenant Governor.
Donald Trump and Roy Cooper
According to Charlotte Observer, North Carolinians favor their Governor Roy Cooper more than their President Donald Trump. While Trump had an approval rating of 36%, Cooper was well ahead with 46%. On Trump’s immigration executive order, Cooper commented – “The executive order issued by the President will make our homeland and our troops serving overseas less safe. Our vetting process has to be tough and thorough, but we should not impose a religious test to enter the country. It’s especially troubling that individuals who risked their lives to protect our troops and served alongside them are now being turned away. We can secure the safety of our country without separating families, hurting our businesses, and turning away good people who need our help.” Despite these differences, Governor Cooper visited President Trump at Trump Tower.
