Former Governor Roy Cooper (D. NC)
I told you I would be back to my election diaries. By the way, I strongly urge all of you to follow The Downballot Substack (formerly Daily Kos Elections) to stay up to date with all of the election news going on across the country. That’s where I found this good news out of North Carolina courtesy of Public Policy Polling’s latest poll:
PPP’s newest North Carolina poll finds that Thom Tillis is unpopular and would start out trailing Roy Cooper for reelection.
Just 25% of voters in the state approve of the job he’s doing to 46% who disapprove. Only 21% characterize him as a strong leader, with a 51% majority labeling him weak. Tills trails Cooper 47-43 in a hypothetical head to head.
North Carolinians are slightly down on Donald Trump despite his victory in the state four months ago with 48% approving and 49% disapproving of the job he’s doing. Part of Tillis’ unpopularity may stem from the perception that he carries water for Trump- by an 11 point margin voters think he’s a ‘partisan voice for Donald Trump’ rather than ‘an independent voice for North Carolina.’
North Carolinians are even more down on Elon Musk than they are on Donald Trump. Just 44% think he should have a significant role in government to 52% who say he shouldn’t.
Back in December with his interview with The New York Times, Cooper did sound like he’s leaving the door open to his political future:
In your farewell speech, you said, “I’m not done.” Does that mean you are looking at running for the Senate in two years or for president in four years?
So everything is on the table for me. I’m going to take several months after I leave office, spend some time with my family and think about how I can best make a difference, and then I’ll make that decision.
I’m really not inclined any particular way at this point. I’ve intentionally put myself in a position where I don’t want to make a decision in the next few months. I’ve been in public service for three decades. I just want to take some time with my family and then make a decision.
It’s hard for me to believe that I won’t want to do something to continue adding to the woodpile, and I look forward to that.
If Cooper were to run, he already has a key issue for next year:
Former Gov. Roy Cooper posted on social media that the repeated promise President Donald Trump made not to cut Medicaid is now at risk after U.S. House Republicans approved a bill that “likely rips health insurance from 630k hard working North Carolinians.”
It’s one of several concerns about the bill that Democrats across the country have echoed since the vote last week. They say Medicaid, food benefits, higher education grants and more are at risk.
That includes North Carolina Democrats, who, led by Cooper in 2023, were able to reach an agreement with Republicans to pass Medicaid expansion — only to now, they say, have its federal funding jeopardized.
By the way, four months after the 2024 election, we still have one race in North Carolina that still isn’t called:
The ongoing legal battle over 60,000 ballots in the North Carolina Supreme Court election could have significant implications for the state’s judicial system, influencing the court’s short-term composition and possibly establishing new, long-lasting legal and political precedents.
The results show incumbent Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, leading Jefferson Griffin, a Republican and judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, 50.01% to 49.99% — a margin of just 734 votes. But Griffin has leveled a series of legal challenges, most notably contesting over 60,000 ballots as possibly fraudulent.
Numerous protests in recent weeks have called on the state Supreme Court to certify the race and keep the challenged ballots. The case has also garnered significant outside attention, making national headlines and drawing commentary from such prominent figures as Eric Holder Jr., former Attorney General of the United States.
“We've certainly had contested elections, but I'm not aware of any one quite like this,” said Asher Hildebrand, professor of the practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy. “… It's kind of the legal equivalent of throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and seeing what sticks.”
Hopefully Cooper makes a decision very soon. In the mean time, click here to donate and get involved with the North Carolina Democratic Party.
