Roy Cooper: DC has left hardworking families behind. I’m running to change that | Opinion
Editor’s note: We asked North Carolina’s U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley, to write about the most important issue they see facing our state. This is Cooper’s submission.
I was born and raised in North Carolina, and I’ve lived here all my life. There’s no better place to live, work and raise a family. But for too many people in our state and across the country, the cost of living has gotten out of control because of the policies of politicians in Washington, D.C. For so many families there’s too much month at the end of the money, and it’s hard for them to make ends meet. The cost of groceries, rent, utilities, child care and medical bills keep rising and gnawing at them.
Washington leaders promised relief. What people got was even higher prices and paychecks that don’t keep up. That’s why I’m running for the United States Senate to make life more affordable for North Carolina families.
Throughout my career representing everyday people and small businesses in my small private law practice to my two terms as governor, I just wanted to serve right here in the state that I love so much. North Carolina is where I worked summers on the farm, went to public schools, taught Sunday school and raised our children. Going to Washington was something I never really wanted to do. But these are not ordinary times, and I knew I needed to step up and run because I still believe that together we can change things for the better.
Right now for too many families, the middle class feels like a distant dream. And for many who are in the middle class, they are barely hanging on. What’s happening in Washington is only making it worse. While people across our state struggle, the biggest corporations and the billionaires are just getting further ahead — all at the expense of working people.
Young people feel like they’ll never be able to save enough to buy a home. Innovators with big ideas feel like they can’t afford to take a leap. Filling up the cart at the grocery store or putting gas in the tank is getting harder. Unpredictable, erratic tariffs are driving up prices, making it tougher for family farms and small businesses to stay afloat and putting a strain on consumer prices. It shouldn’t be this hard.
Washington is broken, and we can’t keep sending D.C. insiders to fix the problem they created. It’s time for that to change. North Carolinians deserve a senator who will work to make life affordable for them.
When I was governor, I worked across political party lines and focused on getting things done and lowering costs. That’s how we got quality, affordable health care for more than 675,000 North Carolinians by expanding Medicaid and eliminated up to $4 billion in medical debt for nearly two million people. That’s how we brought more than 640,000 new jobs to our state and helped make North Carolina the best state in the country for business three out of the last four years. And it’s why I supported common-sense tax cuts for hardworking families who need them the most and opposed tax breaks for the wealthy.
But politicians in Washington are endangering that progress. The “Big Beautiful Bill” supported by my opponent rips healthcare away from hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, leaves rural hospitals hanging out to dry and takes food away from hungry children, all to give major tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.
This disastrous bill will cause a lot of healthy people to decide that health insurance is too expensive and can’t fit in their budget anymore. And when more uninsured people have to get care and can’t pay the bills, it increases the cost of healthcare for everyone else. Washington, D.C. Republican insiders like my opponent refuse to acknowledge that too many sick people are going broke while raising the cost of health insurance for people who are covered.
I’m ready to go to Washington to make a difference for people who need it. I know how to bring people together, find consensus and get things done, and I’ll take that same approach to Washington to deliver for hardworking families, just like I did here in North Carolina.
Too many people go to Washington to be something — I want to do something.
This is a pivotal moment in history for our state and our country. I believe our best days are still ahead of us, and I’m ready to serve as your next senator to make things better — and more affordable — for every North Carolinian.
Roy Cooper served as North Carolina governor from 2017 to 2025. He was the state attorney general from 2001 to 2017 and in the General Assembly from 1987 to 2001.
This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.