Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th and current Governor of North Carolina since 2017. Prior to his governorship, Cooper had served as the elected Attorney General of North Carolina from 2001. Before that, he served in the General Assembly in both the North Carolina House of Representatives and the North Carolina Senate. Cooper is a member of the Democratic Party.
He narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Pat McCrory for the governorship in the 2016 election. On December 5, McCrory conceded the election, making Cooper the first challenger since 1850 to defeat a sitting North Carolina Governor and took office on January 1, 2017. The Republican-dominated legislature passed bills in a special session before he took office to reduce his power and override several of his vetoes of legislation.
Biography
Cooper was born in Nash County, North Carolina, the son of Beverly Thorne Batchelor, a school teacher, and Roy Asberry Cooper Jr. He was raised in a rural community and worked in tobacco fields during the summer as a teenager. He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies. He was elected as the president of the university's Young Democrats. He also earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Roy Asberry Cooper III (1957) | 13 June 1957 Nashville, Nash County, North Carolina, United States | Kristin Bernhardt (1956) | |
| Pell Carlton Cooper (1959) | |||
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Natalie Cooper | |||
| Hilary Cooper | |||
| Claire Cooper | |||
Footnotes (including sources)
| ‡ General |
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