North Carolina Democrats Want Their Governor to Be Kamala Harris’ VP

Democratic Party delegates in North Carolina want to see the Kamala Harris-Roy Cooper ticket happen.

The 168-member delegation pulled together for an emergency meeting on Sunday night to discuss a path forward after President Joe Biden’s decision to step out of the race as the Democratic nominee and throw his support behind Harris.

“At the meeting, we had a delegate offer a friendly amendment to our motion to support Kamala,” Jennifer Marshall, a DNC committee member, told NOTUS. “We voted unanimously to support Roy Cooper to run alongside her.”

Cooper is closing out his second term as governor in North Carolina and has been widely floated as one of a few potential candidates who could accompany Harris on the 2024 ticket. Cooper has earned the trust of North Carolina Democrats to lead the party to a national victory after pulling more votes in the state than Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 (in both years, Trump won the state) and polling higher in favorability than Biden.

“It wasn’t a hard decision at all, it’s Roy Cooper,” said John Verdejo, another DNC committee member present at the meeting. “If he were to be chosen, we’re saying he has the full support of North Carolina.”

Should Harris ask Cooper to join her bid for president, North Carolina Democrats also think Cooper would drive tremendous turnout in a state the national party hopes to add to its electoral map this year.

“People come out in droves to vote for Gov. Cooper,” Marshall said. “He wins Democrats, unaffiliated and Republicans, and we know how important North Carolina is to winning the White House. Not only that, but our local and statewide candidates would get a boost from Cooper being on the ticket.”

In a statement on Monday, Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Chair Drew Kromer echoed the endorsement.

“North Carolina is a pivotal swing state that has seen years of underinvestment from national Democrats,” Kromer wrote. “This election is a major opportunity to lay the groundwork for Democratic victories in North Carolina for years to come, and selecting Governor Cooper as our Vice Presidential candidate would go a long way to building that infrastructure.”

For now, Cooper has not commented on whether or not he’ll make a move for the job, but he has offered an endorsement to Harris.

“Kamala Harris should be the next President,” Cooper posted on X. “I’ve known [Harris] going back to our days as AGs, and she has what it takes to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country thoughtfully and with integrity. I look forward to campaigning for her as we work to win NC up and down the ticket.”

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Cooper said it was too early to begin thinking about who should run alongside her.

Delegates of the state tell NOTUS they have no indication that Cooper will join Harris besides his close relationship with the administration, but they wanted to offer the endorsement to let their stance be known.

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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.