BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – Governor Roy Cooper on Tuesday, July 30, visited Brunswick County at the Green Swamp Preserve to talk about environmental grant funding, but he also took time to address the recent news of his not wanting to run alongside Kamala Harris as the potential Vice President.

“I strongly support Kamala Harris for President of the United States, and I am going to work every day to see that she is elected. I believe that she will win, and I look forward to this campaign because she has the right message and she is the right person for this country,” Cooper said.

Cooper has been named among several others as potential contenders to be Harris’ VP pick. Others included Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

“This was not the right time for our state or for me to potentially be on a national ticket, so that’s why I’m not doing it. But I’m excited about the fact that we have a lot of great options for her to choose from. I think a number of them are very eager to do this, and I look forward to her announcement probably at the end of the week as to who it is, and we’re gonna move forward and we’re gonna win this race,” he continued.

Cooper noted in a statement on Monday that he is concerned about a Republican takeover if he ran nationally; under the state constitution, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson could potentially become the acting governor while Cooper would be traveling out of state.

“We know that when I was in Japan on an economic development tour, he tried to do this. If I were the vice presidential candidate, we had concerns that he would try to seize the limelight because there would be a lot, if I were the Vice Presidential candidate, on him and that would be a real distraction to the presidential campaign,” he said.

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