It took a few seconds for the meaning of Roy Cooper’s little joke to land with the audience at a dinner of North Carolina Democrats last Saturday night in Raleigh. In a folksy style little changed since he was a middle school principal,

In his first public event after news of his impending Senate campaign broke, former Governor Roy Cooper asked everyone in the audience planning to run for office in 2026 to please stand for a round of applause.

Name recognition and experience are among his advantages, but Triad professors say his strategy in this race will need to be different than previous campaigns.