North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says Kamala Harris "knows we are in play"

and we go now to the governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina a Battleground State he joins us from rally good morning to you Governor Margaret good morning uh vice president Harris will be in your state Thursday uh we know this is a consequential week debates can be catastrophic they can be inconsequential do you anticipate the average North Carolinian is open to persuasion or even watching what happens on that debate stage this week There's no question about it it's close here in North Carolina it always is this was Biden Harris's closest loss in 2020 only 1.3% so the fact that KLA Harris as Vice President of the United States has been to North Carolina 17 times shows that she cares about our state she knows that we are in play and she knows that if she wins North Carolina she is the next president of the United States because Trump has no other pathway is it winning or is it just reducing the amount by which they lose rural voters you have a very large rural population in your state and you know things that the Biden Harris Administration has done has helped our rural population I've been able to expand Medicaid here in North Carolina that's helped working rural North Carolinians we're getting highspeed internet all across our state that's something that people are beginning to find out about and she's got a plan she's got a plan to lower costs for North Carolinians particularly in this child care Arena drug pricing we're excited about the economic plan that she has and I think North Carolinians will respond to it well I want to ask you more about some of that because our uh latest CBS polling shows it is a very very tight race and it is the issue of economy and inflation that is weighing the most on voters so we're going to talk about that in a few minutes when we take this break and we'll come back to finish it with you Governor stay with us and we continue our conversation with the Democratic governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper uh Governor our CBS polling shows this is still a competitive race for Donald Trump largely because of those voters who just don't think they are better off financially right now uh their incomes are not keeping up with inflation this is especially true among non- colge and white and workingclass voters how did Democrats change this perception well I think that same poll Margaret said that people had more trust in kamla Harris to help the middle class and as she spends time getting out her economic plan of Shifting the tax burden here we need to make sure that billionaires and corporations pay their fair share and that everyday people uh and small businesses get the tax benefits as she talks about her child care plan and providing child care tax credits you've got Donald Trump who clearly doesn't understand the problem you got JD Vance who's saying well you should get your grandparents or your aunts or uncles to look after children completely clueless when we continue to get this information out to the American public and to people here in North Carolina that KLA Harris has an economic plan that's going to help lower the cost for everyday people that's going to help families Thrive that is going to protect women's reproductive freedom I think at the end of the day that's going to be what works here well you got a short period of time to to do that sir in this uh election um one of the things that we did hear about from uh the vice president this past week was her endorsement of a less dramatic increase in the capital gains tax rate than what Joe Biden had proposed um this is a tax on assets owned for more than a year on on households bringing in over a million dollars in income now the vice president hasn't said whether she supports Biden's proposal to tax unrealized gains that's getting a lot of focus from Republicans I I'm just wondering though is this announcement positioning really just an attempt to appear more moderate to appear more Pro bus is it just a political Ploy I think what KLA Harris found out in the period of time the three and a half plus years that she's been vice president that you have to achieve consensus to get things done and that's exactly what she's been able to do overall what she wants to do is to shift the burden here clearly the billionaires are not paying their fair share we've got to figure out a way to make sure that we can get them to do that while easing the burden on the middle class and the way you do that is to try to find consensus because as you know it's very tough to get legislation through both the house and the Senate and that will continue to be a challenge but she's shown that she's got the ability to help do that Tim wals was in this was in the Congress so he's got the ability to help push legislation that helps shift this balance so I'm excited about the potential for them being president and vice president of the United States well and and have to work with Congress um I want to ask you about guns we saw this horrific shooting in Georgia this past week and the father of that shooter is facing second deegree murder and other charges because he gave his son that AR-15 style weapon that was used you're a former State Attorney General and I I wonder what you think of this this precedent of Prosecuting parents do you think it's effective in dissuading gun violence I think we we have to do everything we can to reduce gun violence particularly gun violence in our schools and I think that that is appropriate but we also know that these military style assault weapons are being used by lots of people they can kill multiple people we don't need to have them on the streets look you can't be tough on crime if you're weak on gun laws vice president Harris and I here in North Carolina as a gun owner as the supporter of the Second Amendment support stronger background checks red flag laws and banning these military style assault weapons we shouldn't even have them available for people to use in these mass murders that are occurring I'm tired of seeing texts from children in a school telling their parents that they're afraid and that they love them we cannot normalize this JD Vance says this is just a fact of life no it's not he said it's not he said he regrets that it's become a fact of life um but but you do agree then with Prosecuting parents is what I understand from what you just said there look if the if if the evidence is there yes okay that we we need to make sure that people are responsible if you're giving a 14year old and I don't know what all of the evidence is here obviously you got to wait until the record but if you're giving a 14-year-old particularly one who said that involved are like mass shootings and you giving that 14-year-old an an AR-15 as a birthday present that is a problem would you serve perhaps as attorney general in a future Harris Administration look I'm gonna I'm going to be involved in some kind of Public Service I'm running through the tape as Governor it's a lot for me to do going to work to make sure that we elect toml Harris as President elect Democrats in North Carolina then we'll see