North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (Democrat) said on Sunday he believes Vice President Kamala Harris would have a straight shot at the White House if she carries his state in November, reflecting her frequent visits to the region.
“There’s no question about it, it’s close here in North Carolina,” Cooper told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday. “The fact that Kamala Harris, as vice president of the United States, has been to North Carolina 17 times shows that she cares about our state.”
“She knows that we are in play,” he went on. “And she knows that if she wins North Carolina, she is the next President of the United States because Trump has no other pathway.”
North Carolina carries 16 votes in the Electoral College and would help either candidate reach the 270 needed to win the White House.
Cooper has served two terms as governor of North Carolina, a swing state and key prize during the November election. He is term-limited, and while he was considered to be a contender on Harris’ vice presidential shortlist, he withdrew his name from consideration before she tapped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Recent polls show that Harris and former President Donald Trump are effectively tied nationally. A recent New York Times/Siena College survey found Trump leading the vice president by 1%, although those results were well within the margin of error.
Harris holds a slight lead or is tied with Trump in all seven battleground states, including North Carolina.
Trump won the state in 2020 by less than 100,000 votes. But the state has turned blue for just one Democrat — Barack Obama in 2008 — since 1976. Harris has benefitted from a surge in popularity after she entered the race, however, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its prediction for the state from “lean Republican” to a “toss up” late last month.
Cooper said on Sunday he believed Harris’ message would still appeal to many undecided voters in his state as they learned more from her in the coming weeks
“When we continue to get this information out to the American public, and to people here in North Carolina, that Kamala Harris has an economic plan that’s going to help lower the cost for everyday people, that’s going to help families thrive, that is going to protect women’s reproductive freedom,” the governor said, “I think at the end of the day, that’s going to be what works here.”