‘He can win’: Reluctant Roy Cooper is a 2024 contender if Biden doesn’t run
Name a low-key, low-profile, but highly respected governor of a southern state who made an unlikely journey to the Oval Office.
Did you come up with Jimmy Carter? Now there’s growing chatter about a similar politician doing the same: Gov. Roy Cooper.
Yes, yes, it’s early to consider another Democrat seeking to succeed President Joe Biden. Just two years into his presidency, Biden says he will run for reelection in 2024. But it’s also true that most people, including most Democrats, don’t want him to.
If he runs and wins, Biden, already the oldest president in U.S. history, would start his second term at 82. The age issue is already being raised, even by those supportive of Biden and appreciative of the national service he performed by defeating former President Donald Trump. His next great service would be to put his country before his pride and make way for his party to select a new and younger candidate for 2024.
That brings us to Cooper, a relative youngster at 65.
The idea of Cooper seeking the nation’s highest office is far-fetched. Democrats had trouble getting the former four-term state attorney general to run for governor. He likely wouldn’t have run in 2016 had the Republicans leading the legislature and bumbling Republican Gov. Pat McCrory not angered him by approving House Bill 2, the notorious “bathroom bill.”
Cooper is a team player and a careful politician. The last thing he wants is to be seen as disloyal to Biden. And even if the president were to pass on seeking a second term, Cooper would have no interest in entering a race he has little chance of winning.
Yet, the political stars are starting to align in an interesting pattern. On its list of 10 potential Democratic presidential candidates, the Washington Post has Cooper at No. 6. as “the one leading contender you hear the least about.” Despite the “Roy who?” factor of the governor’s low national profile, he has the appeal of being from a key southern state and a record of winning in years that Trump carried North Carolina. He’s progressive enough, but would still be a figure moderate Democrats and independents could support. He might even appeal to a portion of the electorate Democrats have largely lost to the Republicans – non-college educated white men.
Ken Eudy, who recently retired after serving as a senior adviser to Cooper, said the governor takes a “measure twice, cut once” approach to politics. And he’s measured well. As a state representative, state senator, attorney general and governor, he has never lost a race.
“I was thinking about why Cooper is usually mentioned among the potential candidates,” Eudy told me. “It’s pretty simple. He can win. He won the governor’s race twice against the headwinds of a Trump wave.
“If Cooper were to run, he would attract moderate votes and even Republican votes in a general election.”
Cooper gets good marks for sensible, science-based leadership during the pandemic. His decisions helped to reduce COVID-related deaths and hospitalizations.
The governor is also presiding over a booming state economy fueled by growth in high-technology industries. This week, CNBC named North Carolina the No. 1 state for business and featured Cooper in an interview.
He also is gaining national recognition as chair of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA). The job puts him in contact with major donors as he raises funds for Democrats in gubernatorial races around that nation.
While the national work involves promoting other candidates, it also has generated presidential hopes. Consider the four previous DGA presidents: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee ran for president in 2020. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is eyeing a presidential bid if Biden doesn’t run. Gina Raimondo, former Rhode Island governor and now secretary of commerce, is among the “others worth mentioning” on the Washington Post’s potential candidates list, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was on the shortlist of Biden’s possible running mates in 2020.
It’s too early to tell whether Cooper could end up among the candidates for the 2024 nomination, but given the circumstances, it’s not too early to wonder.
This story was originally published July 14, 2022, 1:14 PM.
