Roy Cooper withdraws from Harris’ vice-presidential field

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who had been seen as a leading contender to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, has withdrawn from the vice-presidential sweepstakes.

Cooper confirmed the news, reported earlier by The New York Times, in a social media post Monday night.

“This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket,” Cooper wrote. “She has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.”

Cooper, who previously served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, was asked last week by the Harris campaign to be vetted for vice president but declined to participate, according to two people engaged in the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

The Cooper team reached out to the Harris campaign July 22 to say he did not want to be considered, one of the people said. It was the day after President Joe Biden had left the race and endorsed Harris as his successor.

Cooper harbored concerns that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a conservative Republican who is on the ballot this year to replace him, would mount a legal effort to usurp his executive authority while he was out of state, the two people said. Cooper did not believe Robinson would be successful but thought any such challenge would serve as a chaotic distraction had he been added to the ticket.

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign declined to comment.

Cooper has known Harris dating to their overlapping days as state attorneys general and also campaigned recently with her. He has twice won governor’s races in North Carolina, a battleground state, even as Donald Trump carried the state at the presidential level. Cooper is prohibited from seeking a third term.

Cooper, 67, is older than Harris, 59, but still a decade younger than Trump. He is considered to be North Carolina Democrats’ top contender to challenge Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican who next faces reelection in 2026.

Harris is seeking to select a running mate on a highly compressed timeline, aiming to make her choice by Aug. 7 — a little more than two weeks after she entered the race to replace President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.

Besides Cooper, those known to be under serious consideration include Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The remaining leading candidates are all white men. All except Buttigieg have a history of electoral success in politically divided states. Beshear was elected twice in deep-red Kentucky, Walz represented a conservative House district before being elected governor, Shapiro won his attorney general race in 2016 when Trump carried Pennsylvania and Kelly has won Arizona twice in the past four years.

Shapiro on Monday campaigned for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who may have been a vice-presidential contender had she not taken herself out of the running last week.

“I want a future that is cleaner and greener,” Shapiro told about 1,000 supporters — an audience that would have been considered large for a Biden campaign stop just two weeks ago. “I want a future with better schools and safer streets, and I want a future full of freedom. I want to look the 47th president of the United States in the eye and say, ‘Madam President.’”

Two people with knowledge of the vice presidential vetting process said the list had been narrowed to five, though the Harris campaign has vetted a dozen potential running mates. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private deliberations.

The only other vice presidential contender known to have withdrawn from the process is Adm. William H. McRaven, the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, who publicly took himself out of consideration last week.

Harris’ vetting process began last week and is expected to run through this weekend. She has yet to meet in person with any of the potential running mates. The initial candidate interviews with members of her campaign staff have begun over video calls.

Several of those contenders have been campaigning publicly — and thus auditioning — for Harris in recent days. Buttigieg appeared on Fox News over the weekend and is set to appear on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart on Monday night. Walz has been a regular on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News — and even had a profile in the magazine Runner’s World. Beshear campaigned in Georgia.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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