On Sunday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) offered a brief explanation as to why he withdrew his name from the list of contenders for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 election.
Cooper made the remarks on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” program.
“Yes, I did let the Harris campaign know early in the process that this was just not the right time for me or my state,” Cooper told Michael Steele and Symone Sanders-Townsend.
Cooper claimed that North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) is one of the main reasons he declined to be considered as Harris’ vice president.
“We have one of these archaic constitutional provisions, I call them wagon wheel provisions, where when the governor leaves the state, the constitution says the lieutenant governor becomes the governor,” Cooper said. “It doesn’t make any sense that the lieutenant governor would take over.”
When Cooper was in Japan at one point, Robinson signed a proclamation honoring the state of Israel, Cooper said as Steele shook his head.
“We believed that it was quite possible that if I were on the ticket as vice president, he could be doing something every week. And, he may or may not be successful in doing it, but he would certainly cause a distraction that would be magnified times ten because of what’s happening at the presidential level. So, that was certainly part of the reason,” Cooper said.
“He would certainly cause distraction that would be magnified times 10” @NC_Governor Roy Cooper explains how his dangerous opponent running for Governor affected his decision to decline consideration for the VP role. pic.twitter.com/IWcoh8mT0C
— The Weekend on MSNBC (@TheWeekendMSNBC) August 4, 2024
Late last month, Townhall covered how Cooper initially did not give a reason as to why he would not serve as vice president. However, NBC News later reported, “One source directly involved in Harris' search for a running mate said Cooper took himself out of the mix because he wants to run for the U.S. Senate in 2026.”
Last week, signs began pointing to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as Harris’ running mate. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker posted and then quickly deleted a video that appears to announce Shapiro as Kamala’s running mate.