Endorsement: Our choice for governor of North Carolina

After the election of Gov. Pat McCrory in 2012, North Carolina Republicans enjoyed an unprecedented trifecta – control of the state House, the state Senate and the office of the governor.

They used that power with a vengeance, gutting unemployment benefits and pushing through major tax cuts that favored the rich and corporations while leaving public schools starved for funds.

Roy Cooper, a Democrat and North Carolina’s longtime attorney general, looked on with alarm at what was happening to a state once admired for its moderate politics and its commitment to education. In 2016, he challenged McCrory and won narrowly.

Four years later, Gov. Cooper is seeking a second term. “I believed we could do better and we have,” he told the Editorial Board. Most of the state’s voters agree. Polls show Cooper with a comfortable lead over his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.

Under historically difficult circumstances, Cooper has been a strong and steady leader who has made ambitious proposals for a better state. Since the coronavirus pandemic reached North Carolina in March, he has shown leadership by imposing and sticking with business and social restrictions that have been tougher than those in most southern states. That approach has prevented the infection spikes that have occurred elsewhere.

Cooper appointed diverse and competent Cabinet members and has steered the state well despite constant resistance from the Republican-controlled General Assembly. But his main accomplishment may be what he has prevented from happening. In his first two years, Republicans with a supermajority in both chambers routinely overrode his vetoes. But Democratic legislative gains in 2018 broke the supermajority, and now the governor’s vetoes stand.

The governor has used his new leverage to good effect. He strongly supports two changes that the state urgently needs – Medicaid expansion and meaningful pay raises for teachers. He vetoed the Republican budget bill because it did not provide either. He also used a flurry of vetoes to beat back bills that would have reopened bars, gyms, skating rinks and other businesses that posed a risk while the state’s infection levels were too high.

Forest, who declined to interview with the Editorial Board, opposes Cooper’s face mask mandate, wants all schools to open for in-person teaching and the state to return to business as usual despite the pandemic. His extreme positions reflect the reckless, polarizing and uncaring spirit that has characterized much of the legislative agenda since 2011.

“The first thing I want to do is to get a different legislature,” Cooper told the Editorial Board. “We hope that with a better legislature that we can have a better result.”

Cooper, while serving well, hasn’t been perfect. He has been woefully slow to provide the transparency he pledged. He should, at the least, add resources to promptly comply with requests for public records.

The governor could get much good done with a legislature that shares his priorities. The tax structure needs to be restored to one that’s fair and adequate. Expanding Medicaid would help a half-million North Carolinians gain access to healthcare. Public schools need to be rescued from a decade of neglect. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors should be restored to a panel more reflective of the state and less beholden to legislative leaders.

“I’m excited about what I can do in the second term,” he said

All that awaits the election’s outcome. But for now it’s accomplishment enough that the governor has stopped the state’s divisive and destructive hard shift to the right. With the support of lawmakers more interested in the well-being of the state and its people, the governor could move North Carolina forward. We strongly support the re-election of Gov. Roy Cooper.

This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Endorsement: Our choice for governor of North Carolina."