‘Atta Boy Roy’—I Don’t Think So!

Career politician Roy Cooper is now vying for a seat in the federal Senate, so let’s take a quick look at his record.

Richard Blakley | October 24, 2026

Career politician Roy Cooper is now vying for a seat in the federal Senate, so let’s take a quick look at his record.

While serving as North Carolina’s chief legal officer in 2014, Democrat Roy Cooper decided not to enforce North Carolina’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Think about this. North Carolina’s constitution defined marriage as consisting of a union of one man and one woman, yet Cooper broke the law as written in his state’s constitution and just decided not to enforce (as his job dictated) state law. Phil Berger, state senate leader at the time stated, “North Carolinians overwhelmingly voted to put the marriage amendment into our state constitution and expect their attorney general to uphold his oath of office by defending that constitution.” Even President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law in 1996 declaring that “no state shall be required to recognize a same-gender marriage performed in another state,” defining marriage as only between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal law.

What do you think Cooper would do in Washington, D.C. with the Constitution of the United States? Would he defend the U.S. Constitution or just flippantly decide when or if he was going to uphold his oath of office?  Do these actions deserve an “atta boy Roy”?  I don’t think so.

After questionably winning a gubernatorial election against Republican Pat McCrory in 2016, Cooper arrested citizens for stepping on the sidewalk in front of the executive mansion as they were (legitimately) peacefully protesting Cooper to reopen North Carolina during the pandemic. On April 14, 2020, while the group ReOpen NC assembled, Raleigh police tweeted, “Protesting is not an essential activity.” U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) blasted the tweet and........

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