Roy Cooper to run for Senate? (02-04-2025--Hour1)

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[00:00:28] Alrighty, so North Carolina's Democratic former governor, my good friend Ray, a.k.a. Roy Cooper, apparently, quote, seriously considering a 2026 Senate run against Tom Tillis.

[00:00:54] Well, with the record of success that Roy has as he does, I mean, it just makes sense that he would want to share that success with all the rest of America. Much like Gavin Newsom wants to.

[00:01:08] National Review, in a piece by Audrey Falberg, reports a few weeks after leaving office as a two-term chief executive of a purple state, former Democrat governor Roy Cooper is still weighing a run for GOP Senator Tom Tillis' seat in 2026.

[00:01:28] This has got, oh my goodness, this has got, oh my goodness, I put this out on Twitter today and like the horror that people are responding with because on the one hand, Tom Tillis, and on the other hand, Roy Cooper. And so, you know, there is an urgency to get somebody to knock off Tom Tillis.

[00:01:53] And by the way, if you do that, and I don't know who that might be, obviously, you know, I've always said the candidates matter. So if you've got somebody in mind that you want to see knock off Tom Tillis and they can actually do it, that's the other thing. Can they actually do it? Then you're going to be putting up a non-incumbent against essentially an incumbent, Roy Cooper.

[00:02:22] Unless, of course, I mean, we do need to keep in mind that if, say, Sherry Beasley decides to get into the race and run for U.S. Senate again, I think the Democrat Party requirement there is that Ray has to step aside. He cannot run. I think that's the rule. I mean, Jeff Jackson did it, remember? And he was like, time for a woman of color to run for the seat. And so he, you know, as a white man stepped aside, checking his privilege and all.

[00:02:51] So I suspect that unless like maybe or it doesn't have to be Sherry Beasley. It could be some other, you know, female African-American Democrat candidate in the U.S. Senate race. And the Democrats, I'm assuming, would not allow Roy Cooper to win. Now, I suspect that Roy Cooper will line up all of the Democrat machine power brokers way ahead of time. And if he is going to get in, nobody else will.

[00:03:21] That's my suspicion. Well, I say that there may be somebody like some also ran from, you know, some tiny little district somewhere down east or something. They may throw their name in the hat or something, but I don't foresee, you know, Governor Cooper getting any kind of serious challenge in a Democrat primary.

[00:03:43] And in fact, I suspect this kind of news is put out there in order to warn others, don't bother. Right. Look for some other race because Roy is going to do this. I don't think that you I don't think that you put the word out that he's seriously considering it. If he's going to say no, he's, of course, going to say yes.

[00:04:09] This is what he has been building for, you know, for a very, very long time. And so I have no doubt whatsoever. Now, the problem for him is not going to be obviously in the Democrat primary. He's going to get a ton of money from outside interests. Right. He's going to tap the all of the the out of state special interest groups that have been funding his campaign since HB2.

[00:04:38] So he's going to continue to to suck up that money. I think the problem he may have, and that's a big may. Is his record. His record. Which isn't much. He doesn't have a lot. He's going to claim credit for Medicaid expansion. Yeah. And that's it. Like, that's about it. That's the only thing. And he didn't even do that himself.

[00:05:06] That was the Republican legislature that after years and years and years and years of saying we're not going to expand Medicaid, went ahead and did it based on the promises that the feds would totally keep paying. For much of the cost, like 90, 95 percent of the cost of Medicaid reimbursements. So. And yeah, we'll see if that actually happens. But the Republicans flipped. They did not flip because of Roy.

[00:05:33] They did not cave to Roy Cooper's, you know, demands over the course of eight years. He kept demanding Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, kept demanding and demanding and demanding. It's not like that he wore them down. It became actually a joke among Republicans that Roy Cooper cited Medicaid expansion as the solution to virtually every single problem in the state. Except hurricane recovery efforts.

[00:06:01] That he didn't have an answer for, actually. That that he didn't do such a such a great job. In fact, such a terrible job he did on recovery efforts that Josh Stein, the new governor, or as I call him, Ray 2D2 or Roy 2D2. He I haven't. Yeah, I haven't figured out what to call him yet. And he look. So far, he seems to be he seems to be doing some good things with regard to the Western.

[00:06:31] North Carolina recovery, I think. Um, and so I am I'm withholding judgment. And a nickname. And so Josh Stein got in there, much like the, uh, the backlog of the testing of all of the rape kits at the state bureau or the state lab rather the SBI's lab that Roy Cooper claimed he had cleared. He said he had cleared the backlog when he ran against Pat McCrory.

[00:07:00] Because Roy Cooper was the attorney general for like 16 years, ran against Pat McCrory, defeated Pat McCrory. McCrory was hitting him, uh, over, uh, the, uh, the backlog of untested rape kits in the SBI that he oversees as attorney general. And he claimed during that campaign that he had cleared the backlog. And that was a lie. That did not happen. And we know that did not happen because when Josh Stein became attorney general, he cleared the backlog.

[00:07:28] And when I say he cleared the backlog, actually the Republican legislature cleared the backlog. So Roy Cooper lied about, so he can't run on that. Um, although unless he lies again, it's going to require a, um, a media in North Carolina that holds Roy Cooper accountable. And yeah, so there's that, but it's a, it's more of a national profile race.

[00:07:56] And so maybe we get media outlets that come in to North Carolina and peel away some of this stuff around Roy Cooper, much like they did with Cal Cunningham, right? Cal Cunningham. That story got broken by, what was it? The national post, some conservative blog. Um, yeah, the, the, the people whose job it is to cover North Carolina politics had no idea.

[00:08:27] That these rumors were out there regarding Cal Cunningham, much like they had no idea that John Edwards was having an affair and fathered a child with his mistress. Right. That's why, um, uh, Brant, what's, oh gosh, what's Clifton? I think is his last name. I forget now. Um, but he runs, um, he runs a blog, a North Carolina politics blog and, uh, Daily Haymaker is what it's called.

[00:08:56] And yeah, Brant Clifton. And, uh, he calls Rob Christensen, formerly of the news and observatory calls him Rob real who Christensen because real Hunter was the name of John Edwards's mistress. And, you know, this was the Raleigh press corps that followed John Edwards around for a little, like everything he did and had no idea that any of this was happening.

[00:09:17] No rumors whatsoever, which is weird because somehow or another, I all the way down in Charlotte and am aware of rumors about various Republican, uh, lawmakers and candidates and such that are circulated among Democrats. But never, ever do I ever get rumors of Democrat lawmakers. I wonder why that is. I know it's different.

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[00:10:37] Trust the experts at create a video conveniently located in Mint Hill right off I-485 and online at create a video dot com. So, um, I posted this up on the Twitter machine at Pete calendar. That's K-A-L-I-N-E-R. And that's where we do the wet work. And, uh, people have some thoughts. People have some thoughts about my good friend Ray Cooper, former governor, who, according to the National Review, I believe this is an exclusive for them,

[00:11:08] Cooper is in communication with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Democrats campaign arm, and is very aware that they are interested in recruiting him for the upcoming cycle, a source close to Cooper. And that's what he said.

[00:11:26] The state of the National Review, the 67-year-old former attorney general is a veteran of North Carolina state legislature, where he gerrymandered the bejeebus out of our maps to the point where we got sued repeatedly. And they had to redraw the maps. And he has long been, I added that part, by the way, just anyway, uh, has long been considered a possible candidate for U.S. Senate in 2026 or even the White House in 2028. That's not a joke, people.

[00:11:55] I'm not, no. He has never lost an election and is seen as an especially formidable purple state Senate recruit in a 2026 cycle with few pickup opportunities for Democrats. That's just by the nature of the fact that the Senate has six-year terms.

[00:12:15] And so you always have this kind of rotation of, you know, which seats are coming open and certain, uh, uh, certain states, you know, are red or blue or, you know, toss-ups or whatever. And so, uh, you've got, uh, a map that favors the Republicans, just like in 2024, the map for the U.S. Senate favored Republicans. Uh, they had more, uh, a clearer pathway to get a majority of the seats and they did so.

[00:12:45] Um, and so apparently the, uh, upcoming 2026 cycle doesn't have a lot of opportunities for Democrats to pick up, uh, new seats and to win back their majority. A 2026 Senate run by Cooper would present a major electoral challenge for Tom Tillis, the incumbent Republican who is expected to attract tough primary and general election competition next cycle. So this is what we are, uh, going to be presented with.

[00:13:14] I wonder if like for, well, considering the primary, do you think that Roy Cooper's entrance into the race actually helps Tom Tillis? Maybe not in the general, but in the primary, because Tillis will be making the argument that he would be the most likely best able candidate to defeat Roy Cooper.

[00:13:39] Remember, remember Tom Tillis was the guy who orchestrated the takeover of the Republican or by the Republicans of the general assembly. He, he, he, he had his, uh, PowerPoint drove all over the state, recruited a boatload of candidates and stuff, got all of the, uh, uh, the donations and, you know, the big time donors to fund the effort. And then one control of the North Carolina house.

[00:14:07] And that's why he became the speaker of the house because of those efforts. He is able to raise a lot of money. He's got a lot of backers that are maybe not in North Carolina, but like Roy Cooper, he has a lot of backing from outside of the state too. So my goodness, that would be, oh, that would be a very expensive race. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in Western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain.

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[00:15:29] And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. National Review reports that Roy Cooper is seriously considering a run for the U.S. Senate, challenging probably, you know, well, it's the seat that Tom Tillis holds right now.

[00:15:55] But Tom Tillis has already picked up a challenger in a Republican primary. And, you know, look, Democrats have long thought that the winning formula for this type of a national race is a white guy, a white Democrat dude in a southern state. That's their formula because, you know, they see everything through the racial prism.

[00:16:21] And so it's like, got to have a white guy, you know, Cal Cunningham, for example, John Edwards. And that's why, you know, they kick around this idea that Roy Cooper would be a fantastic nominee for president at some point, or maybe Josh Stein when he's done being governor. They really like the idea of a southern white male Democrat to run for these national seats. We'll see. A couple of emails here. Senator John says, I am shocked.

[00:16:51] Shocked, I tell you, that my good friend Roy may consider running for that Senate seat. Nobody saw that coming, right? Yeah. No, everybody saw that coming. Well, I don't know why. You earned a rim shot on that, John. I'm not sure why it's not. Oh, there we go. I don't know why it didn't work there for you. That's weird. This is from Alan.

[00:17:17] Pete, who to vote for in Tillis versus Cooper race comes down to merely a coin toss for me. And Joseph says, if the choice is between Tom Tillis and old Roy Cooper for Senate, then my vote is to move to South Carolina.

[00:17:39] Chip says, I seem to remember hearing a while back that Cooper's wife was not excited about the possibility of moving to Washington, D.C., and this might play into his political future. May I submit J. Roy Cooperstein as a possible name for our current governor if he eventually runs true to form. That's a good one. Josh Roy Cooperstein. That's got a ring, too. I mean, it's a combo of both names. J. Roy. Yeah.

[00:18:10] That was the rumor, by the way. That was a rumor for several years that Roy Cooper's wife, I think her name is Kirsten or Kristen. Anyway, she didn't want to go to Washington, D.C. But that might have changed now that their daughters are older. They've gotten married at least. I forget how many daughters he has. I think it's two or three. I forget. One of them definitely got married. I don't remember what the status of the other two are.

[00:18:38] Not that there's nothing I'm saying anything about them being married, but just that, you know, if they're married, they may have relocated for work or something. But, you know, they're they're on they've started their lives and this and that. But, you know, one of the other things, a Senate seat means that. I mean, what are the senators work schedules? It's like two days a week or something for three months a year. So it's not like a huge burden.

[00:19:03] And Roy could just get one of those, you know, one of those townhomes or something in the D.C. area and just live there with a bunch of other Democrats that just travel up there for when they need to be in town. And his wife can stay in the Raleigh area. So that might be part of the deal, too. Right. Being president is a different thing. Right. You got to be up in the White House. You got to live there and you're in the security bubble and your life is forever changed.

[00:19:32] So I don't know if so. And that might still be the case. I don't know. But those were the rumors. You are correct, Chip. Those were the rumors. I don't know if anybody ever got her on the record saying one way or the other. John says the original rumor was Roy was going to run in 2022 against Ted Budd. But Mark Robinson won the lieutenant governor's race and there was no way he was going to step down and let Mark be governor if he won.

[00:20:01] I remember that as well. So, you know, maybe he missed his window or something. I don't know. So I think waiting another four years. You know, where he could probably amass. At least one victory or something that he could point to that again, that's going to be Roy Cooper's problem is that he may. And again, this is a big may.

[00:20:26] He may have to answer for some of the biggest failures of his administration that the media in North Carolina don't seem interested in pinning on him. His COVID response. There's been no postmortem done on his response, whether the things he did worked or didn't. There's been no analysis of that. It was just, you know, he saved lives. He did what he thought was best and all this. Did he make any bad decisions? We don't know. I think he did. I think that's pretty clear.

[00:20:57] But there's no there's never been any kind of accountability for those decisions. And I only say that not to smear him or tag him as a failure, although I probably totally would do that. But no, the point is, so this way you don't make the mistakes again.

[00:21:14] You know, when Fauci and his China run lab released some other toxic brew onto the population, we need to know what was the proper response and what wasn't what what states and what countries got it right and which ones didn't. So we don't make those mistakes again. Then there is email. Oh, no. Sorry. I already did the emails. From the Twitter machine.

[00:21:41] Iron Dad says we have to primary till us with a real MAGA guy ASAP. MAGA sees till us as the phony he is. There's no way to unsee it. Swing voters will vote Roy if given the choice, in my opinion, though the thought of that disgusts me. Right. So I don't know that might not be the case. We don't know that.

[00:22:01] We don't know if the swing voters will pick Roy over Tillis or we don't know if the swing voters will pick Roy over some MAGA candidate. We don't know that. Difficult to say. Again, the candidate matters. And also Mark Robinson is not going to be running for this seat. That's what he said. So he's not going to be running for elected office next year.

[00:22:28] He made that announcement after dropping his lawsuits against CNN. And that guy that made the music video, the former porn shop employee dropped the lawsuits on on that. Dave for Day says Roy Cooper is going to have to answer for his failure to help the people of Western North Carolina. CP in D.C. says still weighing it. LOL. He knew six years ago.

[00:22:57] Mr. I don't use email. Yeah, that's another thing that might come out again is that he doesn't use email. We are supposed to believe he prefers to talk in person or over the phone. He never uses email. And that's totally not to skirt FOIA requests. FOIA requests. Right. Once again, it's Wake and Mecklenburg against the rest of the state. Tillis is terrible, but no one has stepped up to take on the machine. Right.

[00:23:24] Well, like we're going to be if it turns out to be Tillis versus Cooper. That is going to be quite the test of the machines. In North Carolina and their funding from outside interests, because there will be a ton of money poured into Roy Cooper's campaign, but also tell us. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources.

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[00:24:16] I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.

[00:24:42] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. A couple more massages here from from the people on Twitter. These repeat tweets in response to the announcement that Roy Cooper is seriously considering a run for Senate 2026. Kim says the problem is Tom Tillis is barely any better.

[00:25:08] We have a real chance of losing this seat to a Democrat, whomever they run. Joshua says Roy is like a hemorrhoid that won't go away. That's oh, my gosh. How? How have I never seen hemroy? How have I not seen? Well, because he's back now. So now it makes more sense. Carrie says to run or not to run. That is the question. Modern day Hamlet. We all know he's going to run.

[00:25:38] Mandy says she'd rather have two different choices. And base North Carolinian says good grief. Imagine that goober on the national stage. I'm getting a lot of emojis of the smiley face puking or whatever that's worth. And we this is our Ramsey who says I'm pretty sure that this has always been Pooper Scooper's plan. Captain Merge says what a disaster.

[00:26:08] Unbanned North Carolinian says since we have to hear his plans, please commit to sharing. Oh, this is from Josh Stein. I'll get back to that one. We absolutely cannot have Roy Cooper representing North Carolina in any way, shape or form ever again, says Maggie. He's got a ton to answer for, says Andy. There's another pukey emoji. If we don't have a strong candidate in the primary, we will lose that seat.

[00:26:35] And Carolina girl says it's just replacing one Democrat with another. Right. So you could tell from the reaction here that a lot of Republicans, not exactly fans of Tom Tillis. Andrew Dunn writing over at Longleaf Politics. He's actually now got himself a gig as a contributor to the News and Observer and Charlotte Observer opinion pages, trying to add a little conservative insight, he says, to an editorial board that's more liberal than an Asheville drum circle.

[00:27:04] And so in his column, his first column up there, he talks about what Tom Tillis needs to do. He says, in the interest of full disclosure, he says, I have no relationship with Tillis. Andrew Dunn worked for Dan Forrest when he was lieutenant governor, worked on that campaign. He's worked in politics. He's been a former reporter as well. He says, I have no relationship with Tillis. I don't think he's a bad guy.

[00:27:30] And I think the grassroots right is a lot harder on him than it should be. However, Tillis really doesn't do himself any favors in this regard with his campaign strategy. He says, if you want to be charitable, you would call him a maverick or a bipartisan leader. Unfortunately for him, not many people have that desire. The grassroots, they don't have that desire to call them those things. The grassroots right calls him a rhino, while the left calls him gutless. But neither quite hits the mark.

[00:27:59] What's actually driving Tillis is being a little too comfortable in Washington at a time when that's decidedly not what North Carolina Republicans are looking for. Tillis, I said this a couple of years ago. The only way this gets fixed is if enough people, a critical mass of people, get into office and into power who don't care about getting reelected. And they are able to take a flamethrower to the place.

[00:28:27] And that is what Donald Trump and his merry band of reformers are doing. And that's what's got a lot of the establishment types very, very upset. The stuff that's coming out now about USAID. I went over a little bit yesterday and then Democrats yesterday. They went down and like tried to storm the building. Kind of seems insurrection.

[00:28:50] But like that's what got them all motivated to do a protest march on a government facility. How dare you take away the funding for our transgender book clubs in Ecuador? Like that's the stuff that that's the stuff that they get really riled up about. Tillis and his top consultant, Paul Shoemaker, ran a distinctively old school campaign.

[00:29:15] Old school meaning raise a ton of money, focus group a couple messages and then dump millions of dollars onto TV. It's been plenty successful over the last few decades, but the political world is changing. Candidates. I did not mean to do that. Candidates today have the ability to speak unfiltered to their supporters in real time. He says you have the ability to be authentic with your constituents and build meaningful relationships with them over a period of years. Tillis does not do this at all.

[00:29:45] His website hasn't even been updated since the 2020 campaign. So he recommends that, you know, Tillis go out, spend a bunch of money. Um, don't hoard it all now. Spend today. Hire a field team. Show up at every county GOP meeting. Make videos and stuff. Send them along saying what you're doing for every county, what you're doing for them. Send weekly emails. Uh, direct-to-camera videos and stuff telling us what you are doing. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

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