By Andrew Dunn for The Charlotte Observer

As governor, Roy Cooper built a reputation as a steady hand in times of crisis. That image was always more perception than reality, but he never faced the kind of sustained scrutiny that could shatter it.

Now, as he considers a U.S. Senate run in 2026, that may finally change.

With disaster response now a major political flashpoint, national attention is turning to North Carolina. And increasingly, the finger is pointing at Cooper.

At the same time, Republican lawmakers are pushing the C.O.O.P.E.R. Accountability Act, seeking to finish long-overdue hurricane recovery efforts and audit how billions in federal aid were handled.

The failures Cooper sidestepped for years are catching up to him. If he runs for Senate, they won’t be easy to ignore.

“It’s now drawing the national attention that it should have from the get-go,” Rep. Brenden Jones, who represents hard-hit eastern North Carolina, told me. “It’s good to finally see that.”

The disasters 

For many in eastern North Carolina, the state’s botched disaster response isn’t a political debate — it’s their reality.

When Hurricane Matthew (2016) and Hurricane Florence (2018) hit, thousands lost their homes and waited for help. In response, Cooper’s administration created a sprawling new bureaucracy, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. It quickly became a case study in dysfunction.

The office racked up a $319 million shortfall while failing to complete promised projects. Instead of streamlining relief, the agency ballooned into a 200-person bureaucracy, making the process slower, not faster. Even today, some storm victims remain in hotels, waiting for assistance that never arrived.

Then came Hurricane Helene, a massive disaster in western North Carolina that overwhelmed an already failing system.

By the time Cooper left office, even his own party saw the writing on the wall. Gov. Josh Stein quickly dismantled NCORR and replaced it with a new disaster response office — an implicit admission that Cooper’s had failed.

Why Cooper’s record is finally under scrutiny

Disaster response matters in a governor’s race. But so does money — and Cooper always had more of it than his opponents. His financial dominance let him control the narrative and bury criticism.

He was also politically lucky. By the time he ran for reelection in 2020, COVID-19 had taken over the national conversation. With lockdowns in effect, voters weren’t thinking about hurricanes from years before.

“Money plays a role in everything,” Jones told me. “He who raises the most money can manipulate and control outside sources. But now people may be having a bad taste in their mouth and regretting former decisions.”

With Cooper out of office, his shield is gone. And his own emergency management director recently confirmed what many suspected — the Cooper administration intentionally never appointed a disaster recovery coordinator, the very role FEMA recommends for every state to ensure effective disaster response.

That revelation shocked disaster response experts, but it wasn’t a surprise here.

“When he first stepped into office, my district was underwater,” Jones told me. “I tried to work with the governor, but I’ll never forget the words he said to me. He said, ‘You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’

“He failed the people of eastern North Carolina.”

The Senate race changes everything

Cooper has floated the idea of running for U.S. Senate in 2026, a race that will help decide whether President Donald Trump’s final two years in office succeed or fail. That puts Cooper in an impossible position.

He can’t blame Biden. And he won’t praise Trump, even though the former president has repeatedly touted his administration’s quick FEMA response in North Carolina.

Rather than a background issue, disaster relief could become the defining contrast in a Senate race. If Republicans make the race about Trump’s hands-on disaster management versus Cooper’s mismanaged bureaucracy, it could dominate the 2026 campaign.

Go ask Jim Hunt

Cooper wouldn’t be the first North Carolina governor to learn the hard way that running for Senate is a different fight. Go ask Jim Hunt.

Hunt, the longest-serving governor in state history, assumed his popularity would carry him to the Senate in 1984. Instead, he walked into a slugfest with Jesse Helms, who turned the race into a referendum on national issues. Hunt lost handily.

Cooper could be walking into the same trap.

For years, he avoided tough questions. He outspent and outmaneuvered his opponents. He used his persona as a steady leader to cover for real failures.

But a Senate race is different. It’s a nationalized battle with big money and relentless attacks. And this time, Cooper—who once controlled the political terrain—could be about to find out what it’s like when the ground shifts beneath him.

Jim Hunt learned that lesson the hard way. Roy Cooper might be next.

Andrew Dunn is a contributing columnist to The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer. of Raleigh. He is a conservative political analyst and the publisher of Longleaf Politics, a newsletter dedicated to weighing in on the big issues in North Carolina government and politics.

The preceding article originally appeared on March 22, 2025 at The Charlotte Observer’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition. Photo above courtesy of the North Carolina Dept. of Public Safety