Berger touts Republican successes, says Cooper ‘squeaked into office’

Senate leader Phil Berger treated Gov. Roy Cooper almost as an afterthought in the GOP response to the Democratic governor’s State of the State address.

Berger, an Eden Republican, devoted the first six minutes of a speech that lasted less than nine minutes to the issues Republican lawmakers made priorities when they took control of the legislature six years ago.

In his remarks, taped for television about three hours before Cooper’s address, Berger reminded viewers of the GOP legislative majorities. He said Republicans are responsible for the state’s successes.

“Across the state, Republican legislators received hundreds of thousands more votes than their Democratic opponents,” Berger said. “Yet Roy Cooper, who squeaked into office by a mere ten thousand votes, has treated his election as a mandate to fight Republicans rather than an opportunity to work together.”

Berger called Cooper’s vision for the state “a mirage,” and “a retreat to our troubled past.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 8:42 PM with the headline "Berger touts Republican successes, says Cooper ‘squeaked into office’."