Roy Cooper
Who is Roy Cooper?
What were Roy Cooper’s notable achievements as governor of North Carolina?
What was Roy Cooper’s role in the Duke lacrosse case?
Why did Roy Cooper decide to run for the U.S. Senate in 2026?
What challenges did Roy Cooper face during his governorship?
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Roy Cooper is the former two-term Democratic governor of North Carolina. Known for his broad-based appeal in a politically divided state, Cooper has never lost an election in his home state. In 2026, with a win in the U.S. Senate over Republican Michael Whatley, Cooper’s streak remained intact.
During his time as governor, Cooper expanded Medicaid coverage for North Carolinians; repealed House Bill 2 (H.B. 2), which restricted bathroom access for transgender individuals; and worked to mitigate climate change. In 2025 Cooper announced he would run in the 2026 midterm elections for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. His decisive win means that North Carolina will have its first Democratic senator in more than a decade.
• 2026 midterms: Everything you need to know
Early life
- Full name: Roy Asberry Cooper III
- Born: June 13, 1957; Nash county, North Carolina, U.S.
- Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. in political science, 1979, and J.D., 1982.
- Best known for: Former N.C. governor; has never lost an election.
- Party affiliation: Democrat
- Family: Married to Kristin Cooper, a lawyer; the couple has three grown daughters.
- Quotation: “Sometimes you’re required to make a quicker decision. But most of the time in government and public policy you make a better decision when you get all the facts, when you get public input and you get advice from people who know and understand the issue.”
Roy Asberry Cooper III was born in 1957 to Roy Cooper, Jr., and Beverly Cooper in Nash county, North Carolina. His father was a lawyer and farmer, and his mother was a public school teacher. His brother, Pell, has served as a North Carolina district judge since 1999. Cooper was a high-school quarterback and worked on his family’s tobacco farm in the summers. He received a B.A. (1979) and J.D. (1982) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating from law school, he worked at his family’s law firm, Fields & Cooper, for 18 years.
Career in state politics
Cooper entered politics in 1986, running against an 11-term incumbent for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives. He won in a stunning landslide. In 1991 he was appointed to the state Senate by then-governor Jim Martin. He rose to become Senate majority leader.
Cooper was elected attorney general of North Carolina in 2000 and was reelected to the position three times. During his time as attorney general, he oversaw the overhaul of the state’s troubled crime lab. His most high-profile case, however, involved three members of the Duke University lacrosse team who were wrongfully accused of rape. The 2006 case made national and international headlines, and it was Cooper’s office that ultimately cleared the players. Speaking a decade later about the case, he told The News & Observer, “The Duke lacrosse case put North Carolina in a bad light, internationally. It was important that we go in and right the wrongs of that case, and I think we did.”
The role of attorney general had long been seen as a stepping stone for Cooper on his way to the governor’s mansion, a step he finally took in 2016.
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In that election Cooper defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who refused to concede for nearly a month, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Cooper’s gubernatorial campaign was bolstered by the unpopularity of House Bill 2 (H.B. 2), a law passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by McCrory. The law forbade transgender individuals from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, restricting them to facilities corresponding to their assigned sex at birth. The ensuing boycotts by entertainers and sports organizations were seen as damaging North Carolina’s economy and reputation. Cooper denounced H.B. 2 as discriminatory and detrimental to local businesses. Once in office, he worked with Republicans in the state legislature on a compromise to repeal the law.
His governorship was often marked by tense standoffs with the Republican-controlled General Assembly, which worked to curtail the powers held by the governor’s office and overturned half of the 104 vetoes issued by Cooper. In advance of Cooper’s inauguration in 2017, the assembly passed legislation to require state Senate approval of the governor’s cabinet appointments. Lawmakers also reduced the number of staff members the governor could appoint by more than 1,000 positions, among other measures. Despite the strife, Cooper was reelected in 2020, winning the state by 4.5 percentage points over his Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. Cooper managed the victory despite Republican Pres. Donald Trump narrowly winning North Carolina in the 2020 presidential election.
In 2024 the legislature further restricted the powers of the governor and expanded its own legislative reach through the passage of a bill ostensibly dedicated to disaster relief for Hurricane Helene. As noted in The New York Times, only 13 of the bill’s 131 pages explicitly addressed hurricane relief efforts, with the remainder devoted to measures that strip Democratic officials’ power over state election boards and judicial appointments, and limit voting protections.
Despite the clashes with the Republican-controlled legislature, Cooper achieved a number of his legislative priorities. Most notably, he worked to expand state Medicaid enrollment by nearly 600,000 people. He also signed legislation offering paid parental leave to state employees and raising teacher pay by 19 percent.
Cooper has credited his own leadership with contributing to North Carolina’s recent economic growth. However, conservative politicians have accused him of being slow in his response to Hurricane Helene. State Republicans have also alleged that he is soft on crime after the 2025 murder of a woman on the light-rail system in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a man who they say had recently been released from prison. Nonetheless, contrary to some Republican accounts, state prison officials assert that Cooper did not request or facilitate the early release of DeCarlos Brown, Jr., who has been charged in the murder of Iryna Zarutska.
In 2024 Cooper was considered a potential vice presidential pick for Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, but he turned down the opportunity to be vetted for the role, citing his responsibilities as governor and concerns about potential Republican political meddling should he need to leave North Carolina for the campaign.
Senate campaign
Cooper left the governor’s office in 2025 because of term limits. He was heavily recruited by Democratic leaders to run for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Tillis, but Cooper resisted those overtures. On June 29 Tillis announced he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened to support a primary challenger to Tillis. A month later Cooper announced his candidacy, saying his decision to run was motivated by the national political landscape.
I never really wanted to go to Washington. I just wanted to serve the people of North Carolina right here, where I’ve lived all my life. But these are not ordinary times.
His campaign has emphasized cost-of-living issues such as food prices and health care, and he easily defeated his challengers in the March 3 Democratic primary.
He will face Michael Whatley, the Trump-endorsed former chair of the Republican National Committee, in the November election. Cooper’s campaign raised $14.5 million in its first 65 days, which an article in Politico characterized as a “record-breaking total for a Senate challenger in their first fundraising quarter.”
The matchup between Cooper and Whatley had the potential to become the most expensive Senate race in history, but Cooper’s state-wide appeal meant the race ultimately was not competitive.