Former Tar Heel governor-turned-political commentator Pat McCrory isn’t buying that his successor decided on his own to pull out of the competition to be vice president.
McCrory believes Gov. Roy Cooper’s exit from the Democratic Party vice presidential sweepstakes came after someone on Kamala Harris’ team told Cooper he wasn’t making the cut. Any senator or governor wants that job, says McCrory, who is a Republican.
“I thought it was classy for the Harris campaign to allow Gov. Cooper to go out on his own terms,” says McCrory, “but no one turns down the opportunity to be vice president if they have that chance.”
After spending the past several weeks in the national spotlight as a potential VP pick for Harris, Cooper ended speculation Monday night with a message on X. Cooper endorsed Harris’ campaign, but added, “This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”
On Tuesday, Cooper told WRAL he pulled himself from contention early but didn’t publicly reveal his wishes because he didn’t want to dampen the party’s enthusiasm for Harris in the first days of her candidacy.
“Early in the process, I informed the campaign that I did not want to be a candidate for this,” Cooper told WRAL Tuesday after an event in Supply.
Some have speculated Cooper wants to run for the U.S. Senate in two years, when the seat now held by Republican Thom Tillis would be on the ballot. Others muse that Cooper did not want to see Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson fill his role as governor while he was on the national campaign trail.
Neither reason makes sense, says McCrory, who made his comments after speaking at the Rotary Club of Charlotte on Tuesday. The presidential campaign ends in November, and Cooper would either be headed to the White House or still have two years to campaign for Senate. As for Cooper’s misgivings about Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, “has been dealing with that for seven years,” says McCrory.
North Carolinians should be “proud” that its current governor was being considered for the job of vice president, says McCrory. Cooper denied McCrory a second term as governor in 2016, in a race decided by about 10,000 votes out of more than 4.6 million.
McCrory took questions from Rotarians during the meeting, but the former Charlotte mayor and Duke Energy executive was not asked about Cooper’s decision. He was asked about the difference between Harris being the nominee rather than President Joe Biden running for re-election.
With Biden topping the ticket, North Carolina Republicans would have swept every Council of State race, and the governor’s race, where Robinson faces Democrat Attorney Josh Stein. Now, the entire state is a toss up. “We’re like the rest of the nation,” McCrory says.
Harris has energized North Carolina voters, he says.
“Now that she’s in the race, I predict she’ll bring out more voters than Biden would,” McCrory added after the lunch meeting.
McCrory chaired the “No Labels” group that failed to provide a third-party candidate to run for president. A No Labels candidate could have captured 38% of the vote and won, McCrory says, noting polls showed more than half of potential voters did not want a 2020 rematch between Republican Donald Trump and Biden.
McCrory added the No Labels group believed 17 months ago that Biden’s health would prevent him from seeking a second term. Democrats also believed that, he added. “Behind the scenes, Democrats are very pleased,” McCrory says of Biden’s decision to drop out. “That’s something they think, but are not willing to say.”
McCrory is a weekly guest on Charlotte radio station WBT’s “Good Morning BT with Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman.” He is also hosting “Unspun” a PBS Charlotte TV show that airs 8 p.m. Fridays, as well as appearing on national TV news shows.