Gov.-elect Roy Cooper to face major existing issues in state

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the result of his race for governor still uncertain, Democrat Roy Cooper made a promise to supporters on election night.

“We have won this race for governor of North Carolina,” he said.

Voters who supported Cooper are poised to ask him to make good on promises that he made during the campaign.

Incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the race on Monday.

“When candidates campaign, they make aggressive promises,” political expert Eric Heberlig said. “But governing is a much more difficult process.”

During Cooper’s campaign, he took firm stands on two major issues for Charlotte area residents, one of them his opposition to House Bill 2.

“We have to make sure we wipe HB2 off the books, “ Cooper said in a summertime debate with McCrory.

But accomplishing that will be difficult for Cooper, a Democratic governor with a Republican-controlled state Legislature.

“I think the most likely process for getting some type of change out of our Legislature is to lower the temperature, make it an economic argument, and say ‘What can we do from here?'” Heberlig said.

Cooper will also soon face questions from opponents of the state’s 50-year contract with a private company building toll lanes on Interstate 77.

Many believe that the issue played a role in McCrory's defeat, and now toll opponents want to know what the man who beat him can do for them.

County Commissioner Jim Puckett, also an outspoken critic of the toll lane contract, said toll opponents will be pressing Cooper for a face-to-face meeting very soon.

“I expect him to look into the contract in detail and to investigate exactly what he can do as the governor,” Puckett said.

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