North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper responds amid Kamala Harris running mate rumors

(WGHP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who many have rumbled could be on the short-list for a vice presidential nomination, appeared on national news to discuss the political landscape early Monday.

Support for Harris

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program , Cooper said he spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday as Democrats coalesced around her in the wake of President Joe Biden’s historic decision to drop out of the presidential race.

“We understand you had a conversation with the vice president yesterday as well. How did that go?” Mika Brzezinski asked Cooper.

“It went great,” Cooper said. “We talked about winning this race. … This is a bottom-up type of thing, Mika. I think Kamala Harris soon is going to be in a position where she can really take off, and I’m excited about it and feel confident that she can win this presidency. So the excitement is certainly showing itself up in dollars and cents.”

Axios is reporting that Harris has raised nearly $50 million in less than a day.

Cooper elaborated on the winning qualities he believes Harris has and emphasized the 59-year-old vice president’s youth relative to 78-year-old former President Donald Trump at multiple points in the interview.

“She is relatively young and strong and vigorous,” he said. “Donald Trump is old and forgetful, and she’s going to be able to make that contrast. She also has credentials of serving as attorney general, protecting consumers. She’s the protector of consumers, while Donald Trump is the con man. There’s so many ways that Vice President Harris can show that she can be president of this country.”

“Donald Trump wants an America where it’s easier to get an assault weapon than it is to get healthcare,” Cooper said. “So we need to bring all of these issues to the forefront. I believe she is the person to do it. She has really been hitting her stride over the last couple of years. She’s ready to run this.”

Vice President Cooper?

As Harris gathers support for her potential selection as the Democratic nominee, speculation has swirled as to who could serve as her running mate, and Cooper has been discussed alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, among others.

Cooper campaigned with Harris in North Carolina recently with a stop in Fayetteville on Thursday and a stop at Dudley High School in Greensboro the week before where they discussed having known each other for several years during their overlapping times as attorneys general for North Carolina and California respectively.

“We must, and we will, come together,” Cooper said. “This election is not about what kind of president we want to have. This election is about what kind of country we want to be.”

“I said, ‘Roy, you tore it up,’” Harris said as she came out.

The Morning Joe hosts pressed Cooper on a possible vice presidential nomination, but Cooper insisted that, until the DNC, the focus should remain squarely on Harris.

“If Kamala Harris officially becomes the nominee, then the big question is ‘who will be her running mate?'” Brzezinski said. “A lot of people are talking about you, governor. If she asks you to be her running mate, will you accept?”

“Well, I appreciate people talking about me, but I think the focus right now needs to be on her this week, and she needs to concentrate on making sure that she secures this nomination and gets the campaign ready to go,” Cooper said.

When further pressed on if he would be “open to the conversation,” he said “the vice presidential conversation needs to occur later. I want to make sure that Kamala Harris wins. I’m going to work for her all over this country and do what I can to make sure we stop Donald Trump and that’s what I’m concentrating on right now.”

Cooper also praised Biden and the president’s decision to step away,

“I need to step back one minute and say that I had a conversation with President Biden yesterday afternoon, and I told him that he had cemented his legacy among the greatest of presidents,” Cooper said.

North Carolina

The topic of conversation turned from the national races to North Carolina with Cooper all too happy to share his thoughts on some of the big races happening at home.

Cooper said he believes that the shift away from Biden and towards Harris will have a significant impact on how the state may vote.

“I am really excited that not only can she win North Carolina, but she can help us with these other important races in our state,” he said. “Like Josh Stein’s governor’s race and Jeff Jackson’s attorney general’s race and Mo Green, who’s running for our superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina, for our public schools.”

He described the opponents in these races as extreme “MAGA” candidates and said that this isn’t who North Carolina is.

Attorney General Josh Stein is in an expensive and heated race against the sitting lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, a Republican firebrand known for intense rhetoric. U.S. Senator Jeff Jackson (D-District 14) is up against U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-District 8) for Cooper’s old position as attorney general, and former Guilford County Schools superintendent Mo Green is up against Michele Morrow , who defeated incumbent Republican Catherine Truitt in the primaries for the state superintendent race and has a history of sharing conspiracy theories.

Cooper also touted the Biden-Harris administration’s victories in North Carolina, praising them for their contributions to the replacement of a vital bridge in Wilmington, Medicare expansion and high-speed internet.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX8 WGHP.