Roy Cooper

Roy Cooper
48th Attorney General of North Carolina
Incumbent
Assumed office January 7, 2001
Governor	Mike Easley Bev Perdue Pat McCrory
Preceded by	Mike Easley
Succeeded by	Josh Stein (elect)
Personal details
Born	Roy Asberry Cooper III (1957-06-13) June 13, 1957 Nashville, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA, JD)

Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957)^[1] is an American politician who has been Attorney General of North Carolina since 2001. Previously he was a member of the North Carolina State Senate. Cooper is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party, and ran for Governor of North Carolina in the 2016 election against incumbent Pat McCrory.^[2] Currently the result is too close to call, and a legal battle over the results is underway.^[3] However, Cooper has claimed victory and has named his transition team to assume the governorship in January, in the event that his victory is confirmed.

Early life and education

Cooper was born in Nash County, North Carolina, the son of Beverly Thorne (Batchelor) and Roy Asberry Cooper, Jr.^[4][5] He was raised in a rural community and worked in tobacco fields during the summer as a teenager. He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as the president of the university's Young Democrats,^[6] and then also earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from UNC.

State legislature

After practicing law with his family's law firm for a number of years, Cooper was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986 and named to the North Carolina Senate in 1991. In 1997, he was elected Democratic Majority Leader of the state Senate. He continued to practice law as the managing partner of the law firm Fields & Cooper in Rocky Mount and Nashville, North Carolina.

North Carolina Attorney General

Elections

Cooper was elected North Carolina Attorney General in November 2000 and took office on January 6, 2001; he was re-elected for a second term in 2004. Cooper was mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for North Carolina governor in 2008, but he decided to run for re-election as Attorney General instead.^[7] He was easily re-elected, garnering more votes than any other statewide candidate in the November 2008 elections.^[8] Both state and national Democrats attempted to recruit him to run against Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010, but he declined.^[9] He was speculated as a possible candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 2012 after incumbent Governor Bev Perdue announced her retirement, but Cooper declined to run.^[10] His political consultant announced in 2011 that Cooper would seek a fourth term in 2012.^[11] He was unopposed in both the Democratic primary and the general election.^[12] In the November 2012 elections, Cooper received 2,828,941 votes.

Tenure

In January 2007, when Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked to be recused from dealing with the Duke lacrosse case, Attorney General Cooper's office assumed responsibility for the case. On April 11, 2007, Cooper dismissed the case against the Duke lacrosse team players, declaring them "innocent" and victims of a "tragic rush to accuse".

Following a decision by a three-judge panel to exonerate Gregor Taylor, who had served nearly seventeen years for the first-degree murder of Jaquetta Thomas, Roy Cooper ordered an audit after it was uncovered that officials at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation forensic lab withheld information leading to his conviction. The audit found that it was common practice for a select group of officials within the State Bureau of Investigation to withhold information. The two investigators, Chris Swecker and Micheal Fox, cited almost two hundred and fifty separate cases that were mishandled.

Cooper argued his first case before the United States Supreme Court, J. D. B. v. North Carolina, in 2011.^[13][14] The Court ruled 5–4 against North Carolina.^[15]

2016 gubernatorial election

Roy Cooper for Governor logo

Cooper is running for Governor of North Carolina in the 2016 election.^[2] He has strongly criticized Republican Governor Pat McCrory for "tax giveaways for the top 1 percent instead of real tax breaks for working North Carolina families, an end to child-care tax credits, election law changes that made it harder for North Carolinians to vote, overcrowded classrooms for public school teachers and layoffs for teacher assistants."

Electoral history

References

External links

• Profile at the North Carolina Department of Justice
• Roy Cooper for Governor
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Attorney General Profile at The News & Observer, "Under the Dome"
• Ballotpedia Roy Cooper article

Current statewide political officials of North Carolina
U.S. Senators	Richard Burr Thom Tillis
State government	Pat McCrory, Governor Dan Forest, Lieutenant Governor Elaine Marshall, Secretary of State Roy Cooper, Attorney General Steve Troxler, Agriculture Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, Insurance Commissioner Cherie Berry, Labor Commissioner June Atkinson, Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Cowell, Treasurer Beth Wood, Auditor
Senate	Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore Harry Brown, Majority Leader Dan Blue, Minority Leader
House	Tim Moore, Speaker Mike Hager, Majority Leader Larry Hall, Minority Leader
Supreme Court (elected)	Mark Martin, Chief Justice Robert Edmunds Paul Martin Newby Robin Hudson Barbara Jackson Cheri Beasley Jimmy Ervin