Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 2001 to 2017 and in the North Carolina General Assembly in both the House of Representatives and Senate between 1987 and 2001. Cooper defeated Republican incumbent Pat McCrory for the governorship in a close race in the 2016 election. On December 5, McCrory conceded the election, making Cooper the first challenger to defeat a sitting governor in the state's history. Cooper took office on January 1, 2017. The Republican-dominated legislature passed bills in a special session before he took office to reduce the power of the governor's office. The legislature has overridden several of his vetoes of legislation. Cooper was reelected in 2020, defeating Republican nominee and Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest