North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper withdraws name from Harris' VP contest

July 29 (UPI) -- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday night that he was withdrawing from the race to be Vice President Kamala Harris ' running mate.

Cooper had been among a handful of contenders to join Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, on the Democratic ticket come November, but said in a statement that he could not leave the North Carolina mansion right now for a shot at the White House.

"I strongly support Vice President Harris' campaign for president. I know she's going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role," the 67-year-old governor said.

"This just wasn't the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket. As I've said from the beginning, she has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we'll all work to make sure she wins," he added.

Cooper was among a handful of Democratic contenders being considered to be Harris' pick for vice president along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

A Democratic governor of an important battleground state in the 2024 election, Cooper was seen as strong candidate to be Harris' right-hand man as he could aid her in securing North Carolina in the election.

He was first elected to lead the state in 2016, and won re-election in 2020, after having served four terms as state attorney general.

The Tar Heel State went for former President Donald Trump in the last two elections -- though just barely.

Cooper is barred from running for governor again as the state has a two-term limit. Josh Stein of the Democratic Party is going up against Mark Robinson of the GOP and the state's lieutenant governor for the mansion.

It was not clear why Cooper decided not to be on the national ticket, but if he did leave the state to join Harris on the campaign trail, Robinson would take up his position when outside North Carolina's borders, according to North Carolina's Constitution .

After announcing online he was withdrawing from contention, Cooper spoke over the phone to White male supporters of Harris, local WRAL reported.

"Real men respect women -- their decisions, their careers -- and it's pretty clear that Donald Trump and JD Vance don't," he said in the call, according to the news organization.

Trump is the GOP nominee for president and Vance his running mate.

"From Trump's sexual assaults to Vance's misogynistic comments, it's pretty clear that disrespect of women permeates Donald Trump-land and MAGA Republicans. And, in fact, it's like that all over the country," he said.

MAGA is the acronym for the Make America Great Again political movement, made popular by Trump.

Cooper did not comment on his decision to remove his name from Harris' VP hat.