With Democrats stuck out of power for at least two years, wrote The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty, they could do worse than to look to the example of one "relentless" Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, who spent eight years in charge of a state that backed President-elect Donald Trump three times — and didn't just win, but stared down a state legislature determined to destroy him.
"North Carolina voters are almost evenly split among those who consider themselves Democrats, Republicans or neither. But as Cooper entered office, after serving as attorney general and state Senate majority leader, epically aggressive gerrymandering had produced a legislature in which Republicans had enough seats to override a gubernatorial veto," wrote Tumulty.
"Cooper’s affable manner disguised a relentless nature. He managed to rack up major accomplishments on issues that range from climate change to paid leave for state employees and public school teachers. Most significantly, he convinced the legislature to expand Medicaid under provisions of the Affordable Care Act, so far giving health coverage to 600,000 low-income North Carolinians," Tumulty continued. On top of that, he forgave billions in medical debt for North Carolinians by personally arranging a deal with 99 hospitals.
This comes in spite of the GOP legislature, at times, having supermajorities to not just block his agenda but override his vetoes of their own. Most notoriously in recent weeks, they overrode his objections to pass sweeping legislation that strips incoming Democratic state officeholders of their powers — in the lame-duck session just after voters stripped them of their supermajority to do so. Portions of that law are now being challenged in court.
Cooper's strategy in response to such attacks has always been to build grassroots support for his agenda: while the legislature was suing to stop Medicaid expansion, he took his case region by region, building up support from GOP county commissioners and local sheriffs whose areas stood to suffer if rural hospitals closed.
His track record has driven interest among Democrats for him to either run for Senate in 2026, or President in 2028; indeed, he was for a time considered for Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. Asked about his plans for next, Cooper said, “I’m going to take January and February and just think about what I want to do next and how I can make a difference. I think I need some time to just clear my mind and be in a good, restful place to decide what the next thing is.”
