Governor Cooper Discusses Critical North Carolina Senate Race

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I say we want, you say no throwns, we want no thrones. We want no thrones.
I say justice. You say for all.
Justice.

Justice.

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are tanking in North Carolina a state that they won in 2024. What you saw there at the outset of this video was a no-kings protest in Lewisburg, North Carolina.

The people there were livid. Huge crowds also at the no-kings protest in Charlotte, and good reason for the people of North Carolina to be pissed at the Trump regime.

You look at Donald Trump's disapproval right now in North Carolina. It's 53%, only 46% approved.
You look at the state legislature, generic ballot. Democrats, their lead, 47% to 43%.

And Republicans have had a stranglehold over that North Carolina legislature as well. By the way, make sure you hit subscribe on our YouTube channel right here.

You may think you're subscribed, but you may not be subscribed, so hit subscribe. Now, there's a reason why people in North Carolina are absolutely livid at Trump.

Trumps attack North Carolina day after day. You take a look at the health insurance data.
About 657,000 North Carolinians may lose their health insurance under the Trump regime.

125,000 North Carolinian jobs are at risk. The median household in North Carolina are having their costs increased by about $1,700 right now.

If you look at how the tariffs have impacted people in North Carolina, just look at this story of Wilson Jones. Now, Wilson Jones voted for Donald Trump.

He is a fifth generation lumber business owner. And because of Donald Trump's tariffs against the world and Trump's so-called Liberation Day, Wilson Jones business is shutting down.

And he said, when I say Liberation Day, I cannot put enough snark and sarcasm in my voice because we weren't liberated. Liberation did it at the time.
It had damn near liberated me from our business.

And we see North Carolina businesses suffering just like that business across the state.

We're also seeing Donald Trump's cruel and unusual punishment being inflicted on North Carolina through those immigration raids.

And this is the headline from Politico: Is the price of doing this worth it? North Carolina Republicans worry about Donald Trump's immigration raids.

Now, it's called Operation Charlotte Webb, and we know they're not going after the worst of the worst criminals.

In fact, they're going after people who have been working here for many, many many years, people who have started families, people who are paying taxes. They're going into the restaurants.

They're going into the factories. They're going to the farms and the construction sites.
They're going through peaceful communities.

And you see the Border Patrol agents and ICE in their military gear, terrorizing, harassing people, launching chemical weapon attack on people. It's horrific, horrific to see.

And the people specifically in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and across the state are absolutely livid. Let's Let's zoom in on the important Senate race that's taking place in North Carolina.

You have the Democratic candidate, the former governor there and former Attorney General, Roy Cooper. He's up 47% to MAGA Republican Michael Watley.

Michael Watley used to run the Republican National Committee.

He was also appointed by Donald Trump as their hurricane czar from Hurricane Helene, which has been demonstrative of Trump's hatred towards North North Carolina.

I mean, they've been slow rolling and denying that aid all along, and it's been absolutely horrific.

The people in North Carolina are pissed that the Trump regime is not even providing just basic aid right there.

Let's just take a look at some of the things that Michael Watley, who's the Republican MAGA candidate, has been saying.

He says that he wholeheartedly supports the tariffs in North Carolina and across the country. He says this has made the people of North Carolina rich.
Seriously, you play this clip.

You know, President Trump is fighting very hard for a trade and tariff policy that is going to work for North Carolina manufacturers, North Carolina farms, North Carolina small businesses.

I support that agenda wholeheartedly because we need an international regime that is going to allow North Carolina businesses to succeed.

Now, here is a news segment, just even from a few months ago, but it's only gotten worse since that time, where we see how horrible Watley has been in the Hurricane Helene recovery right here.

Just take a look right here

about how the community feels about what he's doing. Let's play this clip.

As we near the one-year mark since Helene hit Western North Carolina, News 13 continues to ask questions about the recovery and where the money is to help with relief efforts.

Some residents in the Black Mountain area are speaking out against President Trump's appointed Helene recovery czar, Michael Watley. News 13's Kimberly King joins us in the studio.

Kim, they say Watley has been absent. Holly, Watley was a proven fundraiser for President Trump as the Republican Party national chair.
He's now running for Tom Tillis's soon-to-be vacant Senate seat.

But for months, local residents say they haven't seen Watley doing anything in his Helene role.

More than 20 people from around Black Mountain and Suananoa organized a news conference to talk about Watley.

They say for months they haven't seen him attend any local meetings or do any kind of outreach to find out what people need, particularly with controversies around delayed FEMA funds.

For my clients, Mr. Watley, I'd sure like to know what you could do to help Suananoa's post office open back up.

Or Gurden get both lanes of their highway back. It's still a one-lane dirt road to Lake Lure.
If Michael Watley does half as good a job for North Carolina as he did for my my campaign.

We'll be very happy. The president was very clear when he came here in January that he is not going to forget Western North Carolina.

We reached out to Watley's press person and sent questions, specifically from the people who spoke. One of his spokesmen did send a response a short time ago.
It didn't address

any of my questions specifically. And Michael Watley told, though, the hurricane victims, still waiting for help a year later, there's been a lot of help.
We've been doing a great job.

Just like he says, everything in the economy is great. Here, play this clip.
Well, speaking of helping people, you're on this FEMA review council.

President Trump has said, look, let's give disaster aid, more control over that to the states. They know what's going on on the ground.

Now, there's people in Western North Carolina that are still waiting for help from Hurricane Helene. That was a year and a week or two ago that that hit.
What do you tell people there?

including Republicans, that are frustrated with the lack of help. Well, there has been a lot of help.

And now let's bring in the former governor of North carolina who's running for that senate seat the democrat governor cooper great to see you governor so i've been showing that those that data right there which shows that donald trump's disapproval right now is 53 percent in north carolina i showed all of those clips it just seems that north carolina has been kind of uniquely targeted by this administration whether it's through the immigration raids whether it's by the tariffs whether it's by the denials of hurricane relief what's going on governor in the state?

People are getting hit hard right now, Ben. It's one of the reasons why I'm running for the United States Senate.
Washington is broken.

People are struggling. They had an administration to promise them that they were going to deal with this high cost of living.

Not only have they not dealt with it, they've made it worse for people with these tariffs that end up being paid by everyday people.

I've got an opponent, Michael Watley, who keeps insisting that grocery prices are down. And people know that that's not true.

And in fact, one of the great things I've gotten to do since I've left the governor's office is go to the grocery store, actually.

And people recognize me and come up and talk with me and have told me how difficult it is for them. Too much month at the end of the money.

This administration, this Congress is broken. When you're making life unaffordable for people, when you're taking away their health care,

that's not good for them. And

we need to change. We need people who will go to Washington with practical experience who can break this majority that we have.
We must break the majority in the U.S. Senate and U.S.

House in order to bring some balance back to Washington and try to make this Washington work for everyday people instead of the billionaires that's been going on now for too long.

Look, I think you've also demonstrated how Democrats can win in a state like North Carolina.

I mean, people should just know your background as an attorney general from 2000 to 2016, then the governor until recently now running for the Senate. You balanced budgets every year.
You were there.

You raised teacher pay. You extended Medicaid to 650,000 North Carolinians.
And you worked with Republicans and you figured out ways to get things done.

You weren't doing social media posts and all caps, ranting and raving. You rolled rolled up your sleeves and you got things done.

So speak to that, because I just think also you demonstrated sound leadership and how the Democratic Party can win as a template in a state like North Carolina.

Yeah, when you have a Republican legislature for eight years that I served as governor, you have to find ways to achieve consensus and move forward.

They had been so adamant in their opposition to Medicaid expansion.

What we did is put together a coalition of people so that at the end of the day, their own constituents, including law enforcement and Republican County commissioners and members of the chambers of commerce, were telling them that we need Medicaid expansion in North Carolina.

And now we have 675,000 people who have health insurance. I'll never forget handing Penny her health insurance card with Medicaid expansion, her getting the first one.

Tears in her eyes and admittedly, admittedly tears in mine. So many people I talked to that day had never had health insurance before.
So you can get things done when you try to work together.

Right now, though, Washington's trying to take it all away.

And it's one of the reasons that the Republican incumbent in the Senate, Tom Tillis, stood up on the floor of the Senate and told people, how can I vote for this big, beautiful bill?

What am I going to say to the people of North Carolina who are depending on their health insurance that they just won?

We have to make sure that we speak to the people that we represent, that we listen to them, and that we actually roll up our sleeves and get things done.

And I think I can take that experience that I've had in North Carolina to Washington and look forward to getting a chance to do that.

You know, I showed your opponent before I called you into the segment, Michael Watley, and he ran the Republican National Committee.

And he's now out there saying, as you mentioned, he goes, things are great. He goes, we're living in a golden age, and people in North Carolina are thriving.
Things couldn't be better.

And I guess they just assume if they just say it over and over again, they can bend reality to whatever they're saying.

But I just, I don't think the people of North Carolina are buying it because they go out to the store or they see the ICE agents in the street.

They see what's happening and they're like, what the hell is this? People in North Carolina have too much month at the end of the money. They know that prices are up.

Look, my opponent, Michael Wotley, has been a big oil lobbyist. He's been a Washington, D.C.
insider for years. It's clear that he's been there too long.

He doesn't know what's happening on the ground. It's important for us to be able to point that out to people that he doesn't have their best interests at heart.

He has been anointed by this president to run

for the U.S. Senate.
We know he will do whatever this president tells him to do. And as you notice, President Trump is trying to convince people that the economy is great and prices are down.

And Michael Watley is parroting that. But the people of North Carolina are not going to buy it.
But let me tell you, folks, that this is not going to be an easy race.

This is a race that we should win because I think the people of North Carolina would rather have a senator who's going to work for them instead of for the billionaires.

But in North Carolina, we haven't elected a Democratic U.S. Senator since 2008.
And in fact, we've only elected two Democratic U.S. Senators in the last 40 years.

There's something about these federal offices that people of North Carolina look at these races and say, maybe we don't want a Democrat here.

I believe that that's going to change this time, but we need your help. We need you to go to RoyCooper.com and help us because Politico has predicted that this may very well be the most expensive U.S.

Senate race in history because all of the dark money, all of the outside money, that's going to come in. This is a seat that we have to win in order for Democrats to take back the U.S.

Senate, either this year, 2026, which I believe will 2026 coming up, or in 2028. We must have it.
But Republicans,

particularly the right-wing Republicans, want to hold on to this Senate seat and they're going to do whatever it takes. We're going to need everybody's support.
Right.

I think people see, well, what's the Republicans doing when they control the Senate?

They're voting to give themselves new causes of action so they can sue the Department Department of Justice and make millions of dollars by giving themselves claims off of a continuing resolution.

Then they're bragging how they're going to make millions of dollars from the taxpayers. And people are like,

what's going on there? And then I think to myself also, you know, I teach law over at USC and I think about the phrasing of the Eighth Amendment, the terms cruel and unusual.

And that just stands out to me because so much of what's being done in North Carolina and to the rest of the country by Trump with some of these Republican stooges, it's cruel and unusual.

And I just think about hurricane relief, something that was always bipartisan. I mean, Hurricane Helene and addressing it.

I just remember Trump going into North Carolina and spreading all that disinformation about what was actually taking place on the ground.

And then right now, all of the denials and the slow rolling, the aid, like to me, it's cruel and unusual. Who does this to people who suffered from a serious hurricane like Helene?

Yeah, Helene is the worst storm that North Carolina ever had. And it occurred toward the end of September of last year.
And

Trump, who was running for office at the time, continued to criticize just the Democrats involved in this and made this very partisan, which was frustrating to the people on the ground who were working so hard to try and save lives, get food and water to people.

It was a devastating hurricane. President Trump finally came into North Carolina after he got elected, and

he appointed my opponent, Michael Watley, as the federal FEMA recovery czar for Western North Carolina. And guess what's happened?

A trickle of money from the federal government, not nearly enough to even reimburse these small counties that can't afford the money that they've already put out to try and clear debris and build back roads.

There's bipartisan opposition to Michael Watley's position here, and they've sent in a letter demanding his resignation because now Washington's turning its back.

During the campaign, it was important to them to talk about how horrible everything was going and how much better that they can do.

And now they're talking about eliminating FEMA, maybe throwing some money to the states and saying, good luck to you.

Not very much money because it's clear that this is going to be billions of dollars in order for Western North Carolina recovery.

And they feel like the back has been turned on them by this administration. And my opponent, Michael Watley, is leading the way.
He's supposed to be the federal recovery czar.

People of Western North Carolina need the help desperately.

You know, I just think about sometimes how the corporate news tries to frame everything as a game, Democrats, Republicans, and who's winning?

I get it. But also, sometimes, isn't it just like basic competence and basic decency and being able to lead with dignity and just help people and be empathetic and care?

I just think so much of that has been lost and perverted with the Trump regime and his stooges like the Watleys.

Politics is rough and tumble. I get it, people get it.
But the way it's been turned into this bizarro,

whiny, loserville,

are they going to post whining about, that's not what America is, right? That's not what North Carolina is.

And I just think you, as governor, showed what leadership is with dignity, with confidence, bringing people together. And so that's why I think this is an important race.

But that gamesman, that gamey crap, I just think we need to reflect on what we're really trying to do here in this country yeah you got to stand up for what you believe but at the same time you got to recognize that you represent everybody even people who didn't vote for you even people who are very much against you and say horrible things about you you represent everybody and it's important to have people who lead with conviction who want to stand up for what they believe is right, but also willing to put themselves in the other person's shoes and consider what they are thinking about and trying to achieve consensus.

That's what I tried to do as governor, as attorney general, even when I served as a state legislator, when I was the Senate Democratic majority leader, when the state House was Republican.

We had to find a way to move forward. And I think that people want us to be civil.
I think they want us to debate policy issues.

Yes, politics is rough and tumble. But, you know, once the campaign is over and people are elected, you got to walk across the aisle.

You got to, you know, first thing I'm going to do is talk to some of these Republicans to say, look, the checks and balances are out of whack in Washington right now.

You have an executive branch controlled by one political party controlled by one person.

And the legislative branch and judicial branches are both not exercising exercising the power they are supposed to exercise in order to have the checks and balances that to make our democracy work we need for republicans and democrats to stand up in the legislative branch and say hey we have a word to say about trade these tariffs are indiscriminate you've got ceos even everyday consumers and small business are paying these things but you've got ceos who are upset because they can't even do what the tariffs want them to do.

They can't make investments and create jobs because they're indiscriminate. They're chaotic.
Congress needs to step in and say, hey, we have a role in this.

Negotiated tariffs that are reasonable, that are put in place can work, but they have to be predictable. They have to be reliable.

And that's where Republicans and Democrats can work together on things like that, putting the checks and balances in place, trying to to stop the corruption that's happening, and making sure everybody is looking at what everybody else is doing, remembering that we're representing the people of our state and our country.

Governor, before we go, where can people find out more information about this campaign? As you mentioned, this is a very, very

important race. So, where can they find out more information? Yeah, please go to RoyCooper.com.
It tells you a little bit about what we're doing, about my campaign.

You also can help us out financially if you can.

It's going to be a critical race. It's ridiculous how much these campaigns cost.
I wish we could do away with the decision in Citizens United.

But since we can't right now, we can't unilaterally disarm. We need to be able to set the record straight and to get our message out.
So I appreciate the help that anybody can give us.

North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper. Great to have you here.
Thanks, Ben. I really appreciate it, man.

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