A US Senate race game changer in North Carolina?
Andrew Dunn
Charlotte Observer
February 5, 2026
…Newly public documents show the list tied to the 3,500 criminals that Cooper freed from prison early in a legal settlement he negotiated. On that list is the man charged with the murder of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail train.
This is not the usual kind of campaign hit where an opposition researcher digs up an old quote and tries to make it sound sinister. It’s a concrete decision with real-world repercussions that are only now coming to light.
Cooper’s team can litigate dates and definitions, but he won’t be able to dodge the underlying question. Why did he sign a deal that pushed thousands of inmates like this toward the exit, and why should voters trust his judgment now?
The forgotten settlement
The list dates back to the COVID-19 pandemic, when activist groups sued state governments alleging that prison conditions unfairly jeopardized inmate health. That aligned with the groups’ larger, historic goal of lowering the incarceration rate.
A lot of states fought those efforts, but not North Carolina. Then-Gov. Cooper entered into a court settlement with the ACLU and NAACP that authorized the early release or transition of 3,500 state prisoners. His administration said it was a one-time move to reduce crowding, and insisted that only non-violent criminals who were near the end of their sentence were set free.
The list of people actually released as part of the deal was never made public, and most people forgot all about it. That is, until Wednesday, when Sen. Phil Berger publicized the list and Fox News wrote about it.
Cooper’s team insists it’s not what it looks like, and calls the claims a lie. Yes, the murder suspect appears on the list of people freed early, but not because he was actually set free early.
They say that Brown served his full sentence, and that his inclusion on the list was a technicality. The original deal authorized 3,500 “early reentries” — a term that included not just releases, but parole placements, credit adjustments, and even retroactive reinstatements to supervision.
But that defense is splitting hairs at best. What the record seems to show is that the suspect was in fact released from prison in 2020 after a “mandatory minimum” sentence for an armed robbery charge. But when he was arrested yet again a few months later, instead of being sent back to prison he was allowed to stay out on the streets, thanks to Cooper’s settlement.
That puts this squarely on Cooper’s shoulders.
Teflon Roy
Over his four-decade political career, Cooper has always seemed to be made of Teflon. His failures just haven’t stuck to him.
Not his mismanagement of the Department of Transportation, which overspent by billions. Not the unemployment meltdown that left desperate families waiting months for benefits during COVID. Not the backroom Atlantic Coast Pipeline deal that promised a slush fund from Duke Energy. Not even the still-unfinished hurricane recovery in eastern North Carolina.
Republicans have also tried to paint Cooper as soft on crime for years, with plenty of good reason. That hasn’t stuck either.
This one might.
It’s easier to understand and hard to explain away. When a campaign is reduced to parsing definitions and dates, it’s already on defense, and Cooper’s explanations are weak to begin with.
If you think this kind of attack won’t work, go back and watch the Willie Horton ad run during George H.W. Bush’s run for president in 1988.
Today, people typically talk about the ad as an example of racialized politics. That is certainly debatable, but what’s undeniable is that the attack was brutally effective. It didn’t just criticize Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. It showed what happens when a governor makes the wrong call on crime. This has the same potential.
One name on this list changes the Senate race all on its own. And there are still 3,499 others to examine.
This story isn’t going away. And for the first time, neither is this Senate race.
Read more here.
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