Roy Cooper
Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2017 as the 75th governor of North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 2001 to 2017 and in the North Carolina General Assembly in both the House of Representatives and Senate from 1987 to 2001.[1]
For other people named Roy Cooper, see Roy Cooper (disambiguation).
Roy Cooper
Cooper graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979. He began his career as a lawyer and in 1986 was elected to represent the 72nd district in the North Carolina House of Representatives. In 1991, he was appointed a member of the North Carolina Senate, a position he held until 2001. He was elected North Carolina Attorney General in 2000 and reelected in 2004, 2008, and 2012, serving just under 16 years, the second-longest tenure for an attorney general in the state's history.
Cooper defeated Republican incumbent Pat McCrory for the governorship in a close race in the 2016 election.[2] This election made Cooper the first challenger to defeat a sitting governor in the state's history.[3] Before he took office, the Republican-dominated legislature passed bills in a special session to reduce the power of the governor's office. The legislature has overridden several of Cooper's vetoes of legislation. Cooper was reelected in 2020, defeating Republican nominee and Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest.
Early life and education[edit]
Roy Asberry Cooper III was born in Nashville, North Carolina, to Beverly Thorne (née Batchelor), a teacher, and Roy Asberry Cooper II, a lawyer and political consultant who later co-chaired Jim Hunt's 1976 gubernatorial campaign.[4][5][6] Cooper attended public school and worked on his parents' tobacco farm during summer.[7] He attended Northern Nash High School, graduating in 1975.[4] While in high school, he served in the Youth Legislative Assembly as a representative for Nash County.[8] He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies. As an undergraduate at UNC, he was a member of Chi Psi Fraternity. He was elected president of the university's Young Democrats.[9] He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1982.[4]
North Carolina Attorney General[edit]
Elections[edit]
Cooper filed to run for North Carolina attorney general on January 10, 2000.[31] In the November general election, he defeated Republican lawyer Dan Boyce and Reform Party candidate Margaret Palms.[32] He took office on January 6, 2001, and was reelected in 2004. He was easily reelected in 2008, defeating Republican Bob Crumley and garnering more votes than any other statewide candidate that year.[33] Cooper ran unopposed for a fourth term in 2012,[34] and received 2,828,941 votes.[35]
Both state and national Democrats attempted to recruit Cooper to run for governor in 2008,[36] the U.S. Senate in 2010,[37] and again for governor in 2012, but he declined each time.[38] A 2009 Public Policy Polling survey matching him against incumbent U.S. Senator Richard Burr showed Cooper leading Burr by four points.[39]