Summary
Current Position: Governor since 2017
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 Governor
Roy Cooper believes in the potential of our great state and its people. He knows that we can build a state and an economy that work for everyone. By investing in our public schools and giving students the tools they need to succeed, creating good jobs and raising incomes for the middle class, and strengthening our communities, North Carolinians can live and work in places they are proud to call home.
Source: Government page
About
Source: Government page
Roy Cooper is a trusted leader and family man who is honored to serve as North Carolina’s Governor.
Roy Cooper has spent nearly three decades in public service protecting families, keeping communities safe, and working to create jobs and improve schools. The son of a school teacher, he knows that education creates opportunity and he has worked throughout his career to strengthen our schools and create a sound foundation for our state’s children.
In the NC House and Senate, Roy Cooper fought to increase teacher pay and reduce class sizes. He wrote North Carolina’s first children’s health insurance initiative. During his service in the legislature, Roy Cooper worked with members of both parties to get balanced budgets that raised teacher pay to the national average, grow the economy and cut taxes for middle class families.
In 2000, the people of North Carolina elected Roy Cooper as Attorney General, where he continued to fight for families during his four terms. He cracked down on child predators, worked to increase penalties for drug dealers, and oversaw a sharp decrease in crime. He partnered with law enforcement and school administrators to make schools safer, and helped protect victims of domestic violence and stalking. He also made protecting consumers a priority, fighting to keep utility rates low, put predatory lenders out of business, and help families fend off telemarketers.
Roy Cooper entered public service to fight for communities like the one where he grew up. Born and raised in Nash County, he attended public schools and worked summers on the family farm before attending UNC-Chapel Hill on a Morehead Scholarship. His mother, Beverly Cooper, worked as a school teacher, and his father, Roy Cooper Jr., farmed and practiced law.
After earning a law degree from UNC, Roy Cooper returned home to Nash County to practice law and, with his wife Kristin, raise three daughters – Hilary, Natalie, and Claire. He taught Sunday School, served as an elder and deacon in his church, and tutored students in local schools.
Roy Cooper believes in the potential of our great state and its people. He knows that we can build a state and an economy that work for everyone. By investing in our public schools and giving students the tools they need to succeed, creating good jobs and raising incomes for the middle class, and strengthening our communities, North Carolinians can live and work in places they are proud to call home.
Experience
Work Experience
- Representative /Member
North Carolina House of Representatives
1986 to present - Representative /Member
North Carolina Senate
1990 to present - Democratic Majority Leader
1997 to present - North Carolina Attorney General
2001 to 2017
Education
Personal
Birth Year: 1957
Place of Birth: Nashville, North Caroline, USA
Gender: Male
Race(s): Caucasian
Religion: Christian: Presbyterian
Spouse: Kristin Cooper
Membership & Affiliation
Instructor, Continuing Legal Education
Sunday School Teacher/Deacon, First Presbyterian Church
Chair, Local Morehead Scholarship Selection Committee
Chair, March of Dimes Annual Fundraiser
Member, North Carolina Bar Association
Board of Directors, North Carolinians for Community Colleges
Former Board Member, United Way Visions, Incorporated
Contact
Email:
Offices
North Carolina Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
Phone: (919)814-2000
Web
Government Page, Campaign Site, Campaign Twitter , Facebook, YouTube, Instagram
Politics
Recent Elections
2016 Democratic Primary
| Roy Cooper (D) | 710,658 | 68.7% |
| Ken Spaulding (D) | 323,774 | 31.3% |
| TOTAL | 1,034,432 | |
2016 US Senator
| Roy Cooper (D) | 2,309,190 | 49.2% |
| Pat McCrory (R) | 2,298,927 | 48.8% |
| Lon Cecil (L) | 102,986 | 2.19% |
| TOTAL | 4,711,103 | |
Finances
COOPER III, ROY ASBERRY has run in 7 races for public office, winning 7 of them. The candidate has raised a total of $31,315,179.
Source: Follow the Money
Committees
Appointments
Source
List of recently appointed members to Boards and Commissions can be found here.
Voting Record
See: Vote Smart
Issues
Jobs/Economy
North Carolina succeeds by creating good-paying jobs that put more money in the pockets of hardworking North Carolinians. Under Governor Cooper’s leadership, North Carolina announced more than 40,000 new jobs for both urban and rural parts of our state
North Carolina is home to more than 800,000 small businesses and Governor Cooper is committed to helping them thrive. He has proposed help for small businesses with early-stage technology development and grant funding to help small- and mid-sized communities transition into an innovation-based economy.
To bring opportunity to struggling areas, he has proposed the Rural Investments Strengthening Economies (RISE) Program to revitalize communities and encourage companies to locate or expand in North Carolina’s 80 rural counties. In addition, he is pushing for expanded broadband access, which is key to small business success in rural areas. Governor Cooper knows that we must focus on making North Carolina’s economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. His administration focuses on putting more money in the pockets of working families by strengthening existing companies, recruiting new businesses, and helping small businesses start up and grow.
Education
Governor Cooper is working to strengthen our education system from early childhood through postsecondary education and make the investments necessary to ensure that all North Carolina students have access to a high-quality public education. He has proposed solutions to keep our public schools strong and make North Carolina a Top Ten Educated State by 2025.
A quality teacher in every classroom and a quality principal in every school make for great public schools – and our children deserve nothing less.
In his latest budget, Governor Cooper proposed an average 9.1% teacher pay raise over the next two years, with every teacher receiving at least a 3% raise each year, to get North Carolina on track to best in the Southeast for teacher pay by 2023.
It’s been over 20 years since North Carolina passed a school construction bond, and the Governor’s proposed budget supports a $3.9 billion bond to build and renovate public schools and meet other key infrastructure needs.
In recent years, too many tragedies have taken place at our nation’s schools. Governor Cooper is committed to keeping students and schools safe. He has proposed more funding to update school facilities, hire more nurses, counselors, and mental health professionals in schools, and increase funding for school resource officers, along with common sense gun legislation.
For decades, North Carolina’s world-class community colleges and universities have had a reputation for excellence. Governor Cooper is committed to maintaining that reputation with continued investments and ongoing support.
Healthcare
Governor Cooper is working to help North Carolinians live healthier, more abundant and purposeful lives. His experience helping write and pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) showed the importance of getting coverage to keep families healthy. Governor Cooper is leading the charge to close the health care coverage gap by expanding access to Medicaid. This would cover over 500,000 North Carolinians, bring more than $4 billion into our economy, create 40,000 new jobs, and help control private insurance premiums, which are benefits a majority of other states are getting from expanding Medicaid.
Expanding access to health care would also combat the drug use crisis plaguing our communities. Governor Cooper put in place North Carolina’s first opioid action plan, served on the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and signed the STOP Act to stop over prescription of highly addictive drugs.
Workforce Development
Workforce development is a primary focus for Governor Cooper as he seeks to ensure more North Carolinians are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Governor Cooper’s NC Job Ready initiative is helping people get good-paying jobs to support themselves and their families by investing in workforce development and job training. NC Job Ready helps connect workers with job training and employers with the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed.
To help people complete the training they need to get good jobs, Governor Cooper created the Finish Line Grants program. The program helps community college students who face unforeseen financial emergencies like medical bills, car repairs and childcare costs stay in school. Already, more than 500 Finish Line Grants have helped students stay on track to getting a good-paying job. Governor Cooper wants to expand the program to students at all colleges in North Carolina.
Gov. Cooper and other North Carolina leaders are committed to the My Future NC goal of ensuring that 2 million working-age North Carolinians have a degree or credential beyond high school by 2030. To get there, he proposed NC GROW (Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce) a scholarship and aid program to help people get community college degrees and job training. NC GROW would cover last-dollar tuition and fees for North Carolina community college students enrolled in high-demand fields like construction, information technology, and electrical line work. The program would also provide up to $1,000 per community college student to pursue non-credit, short-term workforce credentials for jobs in these fields.
Learn more about Governor Cooper’s efforts to build a strong workforce.
Environment
Protecting our state’s natural resources is critical for our families and our economy. North Carolina is a proud leader in renewable energy. We are second in the nation in solar energy, creating thousands of jobs and reducing harmful emissions. Governor Cooper supports continued investments in renewable energy that advance our economy and help our environment.
Governor Cooper is also leading the fight to protect North Carolina’s coast from offshore drilling. Offshore drilling threatens North Carolina’s $3 billion coastal tourism industry and could cost the commercial and recreational fishing communities hundreds of millions of dollars. Governor Cooper is working across party lines with other state and local leaders to stand up to the federal government and say, “not off our coast.”
To ensure North Carolina’s commitment to fight climate change and lead North Carolina’s transition to a clean energy economy, Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 80. The executive order calls for the State of North Carolina to protect North Carolina’s environment while growing clean energy technologies.
Every family in North Carolina deserves access to clean drinking water and air. Governor Cooper is pushing to ensure that North Carolina has the resources we need to keep our environment safe and hold polluters accountable. His budget invests in more resources to analyze pollutants, encourage clean energy, and protect waterways and green space. Learn more about how Governor Cooper wants to invest in protecting our environment.
Disaster Recovery
Help can never arrive soon enough to those affected by disasters. And, unfortunately, North Carolina is no stranger to natural disasters. Whether the harm comes from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires or other disasters, Governor Cooper is committed to ensuring that North Carolinians get the help they need after disaster strikes.
In recent years, North Carolina has been hit especially hard, with Hurricanes Florence, Matthew and Michael causing billions of dollars in damage. But North Carolina is stronger than any storm, and Governor Cooper’s administration is working with federal, state and local partners to rebuild.
North Carolinians have gotten more than $1 billion in help recovering with more on the way to continue making families and communities whole. North Carolina has seen progress as families have returned home, roads and bridges have been repaired and businesses have reopened, but more work remains to rebuild resilient communities.
To ensure North Carolina is prepared for future hurricanes, the Administration has focused on flood mapping key areas and moving and elevating homes that are at risk in future storms. Governor Cooper has created a new agency, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resilience, to help our state rebuild stronger and smarter. He’s requested billions of dollars in additional help recovering from Hurricane Florence, and he also wants to invest to prepare for future disasters.
Military/ Veterans
North Carolina is the most military friendly state in the nation. Governor Cooper is proud that North Carolina has the third largest military presence in the country, as well as more than 720,000 veterans who call our state home.
Governor Cooper knows we owe these veterans, servicemembers and their families a debt of gratitude for sacrificing to protect our safety.
To help make North Carolina a welcoming place for servicemembers who are transitioning into civilian life, Governor Cooper established the Governor’s Working Group on Veterans Affairs, which focuses on job creation, workforce enrichment, health and wellness, legal and financial services and benefits for veterans.
North Carolina is making progress on reducing homelessness among veterans and, according to the latest information, veteran homelessness in North Carolina decreased by more than 5percent from 2017 to 2018.
Infrastructure
As our state and economy continue to grow, North Carolina’s families and businesses need roads, bridges, and technology infrastructure to keep thriving. Governor Cooper is working with state and local leaders to address our state’s infrastructure needs.
Governor Cooper and his Department of Transportation successfully passed the Build NC Bond Act with support from Democrats and Republicans. This law will help expedite critical highway projects, improving the everyday lives of people all over the state and encouraging businesses to grow and locate in North Carolina.
Governor Cooper also knows that access to broadband is a must for economic success in our rural communities and across the state. He proposed funding to improve internet access and service to households and businesses in underserved areas of North Carolina, including a grant program to help local governments partnering with private providers and utility cooperatives complete ‘last mile’ broadband projects.
Public Safety
Public safety is a core priority for state government, and Governor Cooper is committed to keeping families and communities safe.
Governor Cooper recognizes that state prisons can and should be made safer for those who work in them. Correctional officers do a difficult and demanding job, and Governor Cooper’s prison safety solutions include additional training, enhanced surveillance and updated technology and facilities. He has supported investments to increase compensation and retirement benefits for correctional officers that can help recruit and retain talent
Throughout his career, Governor Cooper has championed commonsense efforts to help formerly incarcerated people become productive members of their communities. Governor Cooper tasked the Department of Public Safety with developing a Reentry Action Plan to comprehensively address re-entry issues and improve the transition for people returning from jail or prison.
Governor Cooper’s administration has focused on cross-cutting strategies to improve school safety across North Carolina. Experts from law enforcement, schools, juvenile justice, emergency fire and medical services and emergency managers have convened to ensure schools have the resources and support they need to prevent a tragedy or respond in a worst-case scenario.
Early Childhood
The foundation for future learning, health, and well-being is built during early childhood. Governor Cooper wants all North Carolina children to get off to a strong start in safe and nurturing families and communities, with access to high-quality opportunities to learn and thrive. we give children a fair chance for a strong foundation in their first years of life,
The NC Early Childhood Action Plan released on February 27, 2019 and created at Governor Cooper’s direction lays out a bold vision and roadmap for how the state can create better futures for our young children by 2025. Governor Cooper’s budget makes critical investments toward achieving these goals to ensure North Carolina’s children are healthy, safe and nurtured, and ready to succeed, including increased investment in Smart Start and NC Pre-K.
Learn more about how Governor Cooper wants to invest in early childhood.
Economy
Jobs and Economy
Building an Economy that Works for Everyone
North Carolina succeeds by creating good-paying jobs that put more money in the pockets of hardworking North Carolinians. Under Governor Cooper’s leadership, North Carolina announced more than 60,000 new jobs for both urban and rural parts of our state
North Carolina is home to more than 800,000 small businesses and Governor Cooper is committed to helping them thrive. He has proposed help for small businesses with early-stage technology development and grant funding to help small- and mid-sized communities transition into an innovation-based economy.
To bring opportunity to struggling areas, he has proposed the Rural Investments Strengthening Economies (RISE) Program to revitalize communities and encourage companies to locate or expand in North Carolina’s 80 rural counties. In addition, he is pushing for expanded broadband access, which is key to small business success in rural areas. Governor Cooper knows that we must focus on making North Carolina’s economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. His administration focuses on putting more money in the pockets of working families by strengthening existing companies, recruiting new businesses, and helping small businesses start up and grow.
Workforce Development
Making North Carolina Job Ready
Workforce development is a primary focus for Governor Cooper as he seeks to ensure more North Carolinians are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Governor Cooper’s NC Job Ready initiative is helping people get good-paying jobs to support themselves and their families by investing in workforce development and job training. NC Job Ready helps connect workers with job training and employers with the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed.
To help people complete the training they need to get good jobs, Governor Cooper created the Finish Line Grants program. The program helps community college students who face unforeseen financial emergencies like medical bills, car repairs and childcare costs stay in school. Already, more than 3,000 Finish Line Grants have helped students stay on track to getting a good-paying job. Governor Cooper wants to expand the program to students at all colleges in North Carolina.
Gov. Cooper and other North Carolina leaders are committed to the My Future NC goal of ensuring that 2 million working-age North Carolinians have a degree or credential beyond high school by 2030. To get there, he proposed NC GROW (Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce) a scholarship and aid program to help people get community college degrees and job training. NC GROW would cover last-dollar tuition and fees for North Carolina community college students enrolled in high-demand fields like construction, information technology, and electrical line work. The program would also provide up to $1,000 per community college student to pursue non-credit, short-term workforce credentials for jobs in these fields.
Education
Early Childhood
Building a Strong Foundation for North Carolina’s Children
The foundation for future learning, health, and well-being is built during early childhood. Governor Cooper wants all North Carolina children to get off to a strong start in safe and nurturing families and communities, with access to high-quality opportunities to learn and thrive. When we give children a fair chance for a strong foundation in their first years of life, we give them a better future and create healthier and more vibrant communities for all of us.
The NC Early Childhood Action Plan released on February 27, 2019 and created at Governor Cooper’s direction lays out a bold vision and roadmap for how the state can create better futures for our young children by 2025. Governor Cooper’s budget makes critical investments toward achieving these goals to ensure North Carolina’s children are healthy, safe and nurtured, and ready to succeed, including increased investment in Smart Start and NC Pre-K.
Education
Investing in Our Future
Governor Cooper is working to strengthen our education system from early childhood through postsecondary education and make the investments necessary to ensure that all North Carolina students have access to a high-quality public education. He has proposed solutions to keep our public schools strong and make North Carolina a Top Ten Educated State by 2025.
A quality teacher in every classroom and a quality principal in every school make for great public schools – and our children deserve nothing less.
In his latest budget, Governor Cooper proposed an average 9.1% teacher pay raise over the next two years, with every teacher receiving at least a 3% raise each year, to get North Carolina on track to best in the Southeast for teacher pay by 2023.
It’s been over 20 years since North Carolina passed a school construction bond, and the Governor’s proposed budget supports a $3.9 billion bond to build and renovate public schools and meet other key infrastructure needs.
In recent years, too many tragedies have taken place at our nation’s schools. Governor Cooper is committed to keeping students and schools safe. He has proposed more funding to update school facilities, hire more nurses, counselors, and mental health professionals in schools, and increase funding for school resource officers, along with common sense gun legislation.
For decades, North Carolina’s world-class community colleges and universities have had a reputation for excellence. Governor Cooper is committed to maintaining that reputation with continued investments and ongoing support.
Environment
Environment
Protecting our Environment
Protecting our state’s natural resources is critical for our families and our economy. North Carolina is a proud leader in renewable energy. We are second in the nation in solar energy, creating thousands of jobs and reducing harmful emissions. Governor Cooper supports continued investments in renewable energy that advance our economy and help our environment.
Governor Cooper is also leading the fight to protect North Carolina’s coast from offshore drilling. Offshore drilling threatens North Carolina’s $3 billion coastal tourism industry and could cost the commercial and recreational fishing communities hundreds of millions of dollars. Governor Cooper is working across party lines with other state and local leaders to stand up to the federal government and say, “not off our coast.”
To ensure North Carolina’s commitment to fight climate change and lead North Carolina’s transition to a clean energy economy, Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 80. The executive order calls for the State of North Carolina to protect North Carolina’s environment while growing clean energy technologies.
Every family in North Carolina deserves access to clean drinking water and air. Governor Cooper is pushing to ensure that North Carolina has the resources we need to keep our environment safe and hold polluters accountable. His budget invests in more resources to analyze pollutants, encourage clean energy, and protect waterways and green space.
Health Care
Healthcare
A Healthier North Carolina
Governor Cooper is working to help North Carolinians live healthier, more abundant and purposeful lives. His experience helping write and pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) showed the importance of getting coverage to keep families healthy. Governor Cooper is leading the charge to close the health care coverage gap by expanding access to Medicaid. This would cover over 500,000 North Carolinians, bring more than $4 billion into our economy, create 40,000 new jobs, and help control private insurance premiums, which are benefits a majority of other states are getting from expanding Medicaid.
Expanding access to health care would also combat the drug use crisis plaguing our communities. Governor Cooper put in place North Carolina’s first opioid action plan, served on the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and signed the STOP Act to stop over prescription of highly addictive drugs.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Building Infrastructure for the 21st Century
As our state and economy continue to grow, North Carolina’s families and businesses need roads, bridges, and technology infrastructure to keep thriving. Governor Cooper is working with state and local leaders to address our state’s infrastructure needs.
Governor Cooper and his Department of Transportation successfully passed the Build NC Bond Act with support from Democrats and Republicans. This law will help expedite critical highway projects, improving the everyday lives of people all over the state and encouraging businesses to grow and locate in North Carolina.
Governor Cooper also knows that access to broadband is a must for economic success in our rural communities and across the state. He proposed funding to improve internet access and service to households and businesses in underserved areas of North Carolina, including a grant program to help local governments partnering with private providers and utility cooperatives complete ‘last mile’ broadband projects.
Safety
Disaster Recovery
Recovering When Natural Disasters Strike
Help can never arrive soon enough to those affected by disasters. And, unfortunately, North Carolina is no stranger to natural disasters. Whether the harm comes from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires or other disasters, Governor Cooper is committed to ensuring that North Carolinians get the help they need after disaster strikes.
In recent years, North Carolina has been hit especially hard, with Hurricanes Florence, Matthew and Michael causing billions of dollars in damage. But North Carolina is stronger than any storm, and Governor Cooper’s administration is working with federal, state and local partners to rebuild.
North Carolinians have gotten more than $1 billion in help recovering with more on the way to continue making families and communities whole. North Carolina has seen progress as families have returned home, roads and bridges have been repaired and businesses have reopened, but more work remains to rebuild resilient communities.
To ensure North Carolina is prepared for future hurricanes, the Administration has focused on flood mapping key areas and moving and elevating homes that are at risk in future storms. Governor Cooper has created a new agency, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resilience, to help our state rebuild stronger and smarter. He’s requested billions of dollars in additional help recovering from Hurricane Florence, and he also wants to invest to prepare for future disasters.
Public Safety
Public safety is a core priority for state government, and Governor Cooper is committed to keeping families and communities safe.
Governor Cooper recognizes that state prisons can and should be made safer for those who work in them. Correctional officers do a difficult and demanding job, and Governor Cooper’s prison safety solutions include additional training, enhanced surveillance and updated technology and facilities. He has supported investments to increase compensation and retirement benefits for correctional officers that can help recruit and retain talent
Throughout his career, Governor Cooper has championed commonsense efforts to help formerly incarcerated people become productive members of their communities. Governor Cooper tasked the Department of Public Safety with developing a Reentry Action Plan to comprehensively address re-entry issues and improve the transition for people returning from jail or prison.
Governor Cooper’s administration has focused on cross-cutting strategies to improve school safety across North Carolina. Experts from law enforcement, schools, juvenile justice, emergency fire and medical services and emergency managers have convened to ensure schools have the resources and support they need to prevent a tragedy or respond in a worst-case scenario.
Governor Cooper has created the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC), which is tasked with examining law enforcement and criminal justice in North Carolina. Guided by your feedback, the Task Force will develop and help implement solutions to eliminate disparate outcomes in the criminal justice system for communities of color.
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