North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has removed himself from consideration to be Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick.

“I strongly support Kamala Harris’ campaign for President. I know she’s going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role. 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,” Cooper said.

Harris is expected to select her running mate by August 7th.

She reportedly has narrowed her list of running mate candidates to three contenders.

According to Bloomberg, the list includes “three elected officials with nationwide appeal.”

  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
  • Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
  • Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

“Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina is said to have taken himself out of the running to be Kamala Harris’s running mate,” The New York Times wrote.

From The New York Times:

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who has been seen as a leading contender to become Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, has informed her team that he has withdrawn from the vice-presidential sweepstakes, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Mr. Cooper, who previously served as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, was believed to be among the half-dozen top candidates to join Ms. Harris on the Democratic ticket.

It was not immediately clear why he had taken himself out of consideration. A spokesman for the Harris campaign declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Mr. Cooper.

Mr. Cooper has known Ms. 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 J. Trump carried the state at the presidential level. Mr. Cooper is prohibited from seeking a third term.

Per NBC News:

A source familiar with the situation told NBC News that Cooper was asked to provide information for the vetting process and declined to do so. His team was aware of the potential complication of a state law that might allow the lieutenant governor to take over in the absence of the governor, but his team has given no ground on its interpretation of the law — specifically that as long as the governor is still in communication, the lieutenant governor cannot take over — according to the source.

A source directly involved in Harris’ search for a running mate said Cooper took himself out of the mix because he wants to run for the Senate in 2026. The source said Cooper, 67, never indicated to the campaign that he wanted to be vice president and told Harris aides that he did not want to be considered.

NBC News has reported that interviews with some Democratic insiders pointed to Cooper, along with Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, as top contenders to join Harris on the Democratic ticket.

Other governors, including Kentucky’s Andy Beshear and Minnesota’s Tim Walz, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are among those who have also been floated as potential running mates.

 

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