NC Gov. Cooper opted out of Harris VP vetting, in part over worry about GOP lieutenant: AP sources

WASHINGTON -- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper opted not to be a candidate in Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate search in part due to concerns that his Republican lieutenant governor would try to assume control if he left the state to campaign as part of the Democratic ticket, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Cooper confirmed in a statement Monday night that he would not be a candidate to be Harris' vice president, saying he was “honored” to be considered but “this just wasn't the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.” The governor, 67, withdrew from contention well before Harris' vetting process began and never submitted the requisite material, according to two of the people. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive search process.

Harris' search is ongoing and her teams of lawyers and political aides are still reviewing information on a narrowing list of potential candidates.

Harris’ team was initially said to looking at about a dozen potential contenders, but the field has narrowed and now Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are seen as among the front-runners, according to the people.

Cooper, the former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, has been close to Harris since they were both state attorneys general. His potential selection was seen as a possible asset in shifting North Carolina — the Democrats' only significant opportunity to expand on their 2020 map — into Harris' hands.

Under the state constitution, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is the GOP's nominee to replace the term-limited Cooper, becomes acting governor and can assume the Democrat's powers when he travels out of state.

Cooper, according to two of the people, has expressed concern about what Robinson might do if he were to leave the state extensively for campaign travel. Cooper's legal team, as well as some outside experts, do not believe Robinson would actually assume the powers that accompany being governor, such as issuing executive orders. But the governor was concerned enough, one of the people familiar with the matter said, that Robinson would try to take action that could prompt litigation and spur distractions in North Carolina, one of the most critical political states nationwide both for the presidency and in its gubernatorial race.

Robinson is an ardent social conservative, who once called abortion “child sacrifice.” In various church pulpits, Robinson has asserted men as the rightful leaders in church and society. He once mused that leaders of the original birth control movement in the U.S. were “witches, all of ’em.” He has discussed LGBTQ people with words like “filth” and “maggots."

In the weeks before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Cooper appeared with Harris at campaign events in Greensboro and Fayetteville. He had deflected questions about the vetting process.

“I trust her to make the right decision,” he told reporters in North Carolina recently.

Cooper, who leaves his job as governor in January, had already been widely regarded as a potential Cabinet member in a future Democratic administration because of his party loyalty and his ability to achieve policy victories on health care and energy in a state with a GOP-dominated legislature bent on weakening him.

North Carolina has consistently voted for the Republican ticket in presidential races for more than four decades, with the exception of supporting Democrats Barack Obama and Biden in 2008.

Cooper has never lost a race for state office dating back to the 1980s, including six statewide general elections since 2000. He has benefited from a booming state economy that has moved from traditional textiles and tobacco to biotech and clean energy and for which he and GOP lawmakers grudgingly share credit. He also routinely portrays himself as a fighter for public education and abortion rights.

Many of his legislative efforts have been thwarted by a General Assembly with veto-proof Republican majorities that rolled back some of his powers before he even took office.

The New York Times first reported that Cooper had withdrawn himself from the process, but did not detail the timing of his decision or his rationale. The Harris campaign declined to comment.

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AP writer Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed.