Hendersonville, North Carolina
THERE’S BEEN NO SHORTAGE OF MEDIA ATTENTION for dynamic Democratic Senate candidates, especially as the party casts around for new faces to lead it into the future—or at least, with luck, win control of the Senate.
asserted
party → cast → Senate
Texas’s James Talarico has been the subject of a 9,000-word New Yorker profile; reporters have followed around Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, treating him like a mini-celebrity; and, before his crashout earlier this summer, seemingly every national outlet sent a photographer to Maine to document Graham Platner’s tattooed biceps.
asserted
outlet → follow → biceps
Far less attention has been paid to Roy Cooper, the former North Carolina governor and current Democratic nominee for Senate.
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attention → pay → Senate
Even as poll after poll shows Cooper leading Trump-backed Republican Michael Whatley, making North Carolina increasingly look like it could be the Democratic party’s best pickup opportunity this year, his campaign seems to be flying under the national radar.
uncertain
campaign → show → radar
There’s a case to be made that he likes it that way.
asserted
he → ’ → it
Part of the reason for the Cooper campaign’s low profile is obvious: He’s neither a showman nor a social media star.
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He → ’ → profile
I can’t wax poetic about Cooper’s biceps because, unlike those of Platner and El-Sayed, I do not know what the 69-year-old’s upper arms look like.
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arms → wax → what
He almost always wears a suit jacket and a button-up shirt.
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He → wear → jacket
I can’t offer you a buzzy piece about Cooper’s savvy social media strategy, because it doesn’t exist.1
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it → offer → strategy
And I can’t give you a colorful story about his career as something unexpected, like an oyster farmer or seminarian, because Cooper has been an elected official since 1987.
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Cooper → give → 1987
In a political age where success is increasingly determined by a candidate’s ability to get attention and go viral, Cooper campaigns like the internet still runs on dial-up.
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internet → determine → up
His first TV ad was so basic and gimmick-free it felt like it was from a different era.
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it → feel → era
His campaign slogan is aggressively simple: “Make Stuff Cost Less.”
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Stuff → make → Less
For the past few weeks, he’s been traveling the state on his “Make Stuff Cost Less Tour,” often repeating one of his favorite lines: “For too many North Carolina families, there’s just too much month at the end of the money.”
asserted
Stuff → travel → money
He talks about high utility costs, rising grocery prices, his record as governor addressing crime, and the federal government’s failure to take care of Hurricane Helene victims.
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He → talk → victims
And he hasn’t leaned into Resistance-style rhetoric.
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he → lean → rhetoric
Cooper refers to Donald Trump as “this president” or “this administration,” but rarely by name.
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Cooper → refer → name
Can such a simple—if not downright old-fashioned—approach to politics really be what flips a North Carolina Senate seat blue for the first time since 2008, particularly in an election cycle largely defined by voter frustration with the status quo?
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what → flip → quo
“It doesn’t have to be all glitterati and clicks,” said John Anzalone, a top Democratic pollster who has worked with Cooper since 1996.
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who → have → 1996
“Sometimes meatloaf and potatoes is just the most comfortable food that you can have on a certain day.
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you → have → day
When I asked Anzalone if Cooper was, dare I say it, “boring,” he argued the question missed the point.
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question → ask → point
“He’s anything but boring.
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He → ’ → ?
I think he’s authentic.
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he → think → ?
So that’s where I just think that they’re off,” said Anzalone.
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Anzalone → ’ → ?
“This guy connects at a different level.”
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guy → connect → level
When I arrived at the Oklawaha Brewing Company in western North Carolina last week for Cooper’s roughly twentieth stop on his tour, more than a hundred people were crammed into the bar.
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people → arrive → bar
As supporters fanned themselves with “Make Stuff Cost Less” posters and ordered pints of frothy beer to keep cool in the August heat, I asked attendees what it was about Cooper that had him up nine points, according to a recent Fox News poll.
uncertain
that → fan → poll
Martha Oldham Huggins, an independent, told me it was his “folksy” demeanor.
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it → tell → me
Wanda Hembree, a lifelong Democrat from Morganton, highlighted Cooper’s “sincerity, his fairness.”
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Hembree → highlight → sincerity
And after watching her congressman, Republican Chuck Edwards, abruptly end his re-election bid earlier this month amid reports of inappropriate conduct toward female staffers, Shannon Davis Zaragoza said she was just looking for someone who “wasn’t shaking things up or causing anything to be ashamed of.”
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anything → watch → things
As Morgan Jackson, Cooper’s longtime political adviser, explained it to me: “Voters are so frustrated with the status quo, they feel like D.C. is broken.
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D.C. → explain → quo
And what people are looking for when they want change is people who will get stuff done.”
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stuff → look → change
BUT JACKSON IS THE FIRST to admit that, while Cooper’s regular-guy appeal helped him get elected four times as attorney general and twice as governor, federal races are a different beast.
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races → admit → governor
The North Carolina Democratic Party’s recent success winning governorships, lieutenant governorships, attorney general races, and Supreme Court seats hasn’t transferred into presidential or Senate victories.
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success → win → victories
The last Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state was Kay Hagan, who defeated GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole in 2008 before losing her re-election bid to Thom Tillis in 2014.2
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who → win → Tillis
Barack Obama was the last Democratic candidate to carry the state at the presidential level, winning by less than half a percentage point in 2008.
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Obama → carry → 2008
Even so, Dems remain competitive.
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Dems → remain → ?
Unlike states such as Florida—which has gotten far Trumpier over the three elections that the owner of Mar-a-Lago has appeared on the ballot—the GOP’s presidential margin of victory in North Carolina has remained slim.
asserted
margin → get → Carolina
Mitt Romney won the state in 2012 by 2.0 points while Trump has carried the state by 1.3 to 3.7 points.
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Trump → win → points
And yet, even as North Carolina has been one of the fastest-growing states in the country, Democrats have fallen short in federal races.3
Jackson likes to describe North Carolina as “one part Northern Virginia and one part rural Alabama.”
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Jackson → grow → part
…and 36 more, not listed.
