California is an object lesson in how not to run a state. Under Gov. Gavin Newsom's leadership, California has some of the nation's highest taxes; it's plagued by homelessness, crime, and economic trouble. While those problems persist, Newsom is instead focused on things like protecting illegal aliens, attacking parental rights, and enacting woke DEI policies that harm communities.
So why did Roy Cooper seek to emulate Gavin Newsom and turn North Carolina into an East Coast version of the failed state of California? Because that's exactly what Cooper did.
Cooper not only supported Newsom's reelection for governor, but he praised Newsom's "progressive leadership" too, writing in a Democratic Governors' Association (DGA) statement, "The DGA was proud to support Gov. Newsom and his campaign, and we look forward to four more years of progressive leadership in California." Cooper also applauded Newsom's efforts for a "more equitable" California, saying Newsom governed with "compassion and common sense."
It's easy to understand why Cooper was so profuse in his praise of Newsom, because Cooper worked really hard to emulate Newsom's failed California policies in North Carolina. This includes releasing dangerous criminals back onto our streets. Newsom released almost 100,000 inmates from state prisons, including a convicted pedophile who was serving a 300-year sentence. Newsom oversaw a credit system for releasing inmates that was slammed by critics as "opaque" and hard-to-audit, meaning violent offenders were released without clear public justification. One of those violent offenders was Smiley Martin, one of the suspects in the 2022 Sacramento mass shooting that left six people dead and 12 injured. Had Smiley Martin remained in prison under his original sentence, he wouldn't have been able to take part in that mass shooting.
Roy Cooper released 4,200 felons from North Carolina prisons, including drug dealers, murderers, rapists, and child predators. Some of these felons went on to commit horrendous crimes and were re-arrested. This includes Tyrell Brace, who was later charged with first-degree murder after killing Elante Thompson in Charlotte. All told, at least 18 of these violent criminals went on to murder an innocent North Carolinian, 99 of them were sexual predators, and more than 600 committed another violent felony, including a convicted drug dealer who murdered a 16-month-old baby.
In 2020, Newsom signed the Racial Justice Act, and courts have used this legislation to overturn convictions and sentences of violent criminals based on racial bias in the prosecution. This includes the overturning of the 2024 rape conviction of NFL player Dana Stubblefield. The court said the prosecutor's closing argument language implicated racial bias.
Roy Cooper launched a "Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice," a handpicked group of activists that pushed to eliminate cash bail, a policy that secured the release of career criminal Decarlos Brown, who went on to murder Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte. That task force also wanted to "reimagine public safety," and Cooper touted it as one of his "major accomplishments." He also said he looked forward to implementing the task force's dangerous, soft-on-crime recommendations.
In 2020, my Democrat opponent, Roy Cooper, tasked a group of extreme leftists with advising him on implementing his executive order, which introduced weak-on-crime policies to North Carolina's justice system regarding “pretrial release, fees, and fines.”
— Michael Whatley (@WhatleyNC) September 8, 2025
He told the task force,… pic.twitter.com/QetgtHVB8s
In 2020, as BLM rioters set fires, attacked police, and looted North Carolina businesses, Roy Cooper went into hiding, evacuating the executive mansion during the rioting. He came back to march along with "defund the police" activists, a move law enforcement called a "political photo op" that put the safety and lives of officers, including those in Cooper's own security detail, at risk.
Democrats like Newsom and Cooper also put illegal aliens before the needs and safety of American citizens. While Gavin Newsom was giving free sex-change procedures to homeless illegal aliens, Roy Cooper was spending $50 million to give illegal aliens and others fraudulent unemployment benefits, and even pushed to make sure illegal aliens could vote in North Carolina elections by vetoing a bill that removed them from the state's voter registry.
Both Newsom and Cooper also support the radical trans agenda and the stripping away of parental rights. In California, Newsom signed a bill that prohibited schools from telling parents if their child was "socially transitioning" (e.g. changed names, pronouns, gender identity), and in North Carolina, Cooper vetoed three bills that would have kept men out of women's sports and locker rooms, protected parental rights, and blocked irreversible gender-denying surgeries on minors.
In short, there is no daylight between Roy Cooper and Gavin Newsom. Roy Cooper tried to turn North Carolina into California, and now Cooper wants to do the same thing to America if he's elected to the Senate.
"Roy Cooper and Gavin Newsom are two radical peas in a pod," said RNC Spokeswoman Emma Hall. "From emptying prisons and putting illegal aliens first to trampling parents' rights and pushing the far-left gender agenda, Cooper spent eight years turning North Carolina into his own version of Newsom's California nightmare."
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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