NC Gov. Roy Cooper, a Harris VP contender, says JD Vance is Trump’s ‘mini-me’

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is under consideration by Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential running mate, held his first Harris campaign event on Thursday with fellow Democrats and called out Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.

Cooper said that “there’s just 103 days until this election, 103 days to make it clear what’s at stake in November.”

In a speech and to reporters asking questions afterward, Cooper dodged questions about being Harris’ possible choice for vice president and the vetting process, saying, as he and other VP contenders have said this week, that he will “respect her process.” Others in the running range from Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“There a lot of good people that she can choose as her vice presidential nominee,” Cooper said. “I trust her to make the right decision.”

Asked again, Cooper said, “I am for Kamala Harris because I have known her for 12 years. I have watched her work as a prosecutor, I have watched her work protecting consumers, I have watched her work in the United States Senate. We used to talk about judicial nominees that Trump would make from North Carolina. She would call me for my advice on that.”

“She is going to be a great president, but she’s also going to make a great presidential candidate. There are a lot of people that she can choose, she’s gonna make the right choice. I just want her to choose the person that gives her the best chance to win,” Cooper said to cheers. He added that “there would be a lot of factors that go into that.”

Cooper on JD Vance

On Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, said that “it’s pretty clear Trump chose someone in his own image.”

“Sort of a mini-me. When you look at someone who supports an abortion ban across the board, with no exceptions; some of the tapes that have come out on him talking about childless parents. Those kinds of things are not going to play well in North Carolina or anywhere across the country,” Cooper said.

He was referring to assertions by Vance in a 2021 Fox News interview that Harris and other Democrats are childless, and questioning, “how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” He made those remarks even though Harris is a stepmother, The Associated Press reported.

Trump held a campaign rally in Charlotte on Wednesday and spent much of his speech criticizing Harris, the Charlotte Observer reported, saying that Biden is “a fake liberal, but she’s a real liberal.”

Campaigning to elect the first woman president

Cooper was a Harris cheerleader when she was running as VP before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, welcoming her at the airport whenever she flew into the state for an official or campaign visit, and taking the stage before her or with her. His speech at the Harris campaign’s field office in downtown Raleigh echoed his speeches at earlier campaign events, but this time focused on just Harris.

In his speech Thursday, he drew a contrast between Harris and Trump.

“The contrast of this election could not be more stark. Donald Trump wants to give the wealthy the breaks, while giving working families the shaft,” Cooper said. “He thinks the end of Roe v. Wade is a great thing and that politicians deserve to be able to police women’s bodies. He wants to make it easier to get an assault rifle than it is to get health care. And he will only accept free and fair elections if he wins,” Cooper said.

“It’s pretty clear from this room and beyond that Kamala Harris has ignited a wave of enthusiasm by showing that working families shouldn’t just have to get by. They should have more opportunities to get ahead,” Cooper said to Democratic supporters.

Anderson Clayton, chair of the N.C. Democratic Party, said she got her start in politics “working for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in 2019. I knocked on doors in rural Iowa and I got to share the message of why I believe that she would be an incredible president.”

“And I’ve carried that belief and conviction with me ever since. And I’m incredibly moved and thrilled that we get to stand up in November and elect the first woman president of the United States.”

State Sen. Natalie Murdock, who also works for the Harris campaign, told Democrats that “I know you, like me, are feeling the energy,” which garnered cheers from the crowd.