The debate at UNC-TV featured the top candidates in one of the nation’s highest profile gubernatorial races. Recent polls show Cooper with an edge.
The meeting took place with much of the state still dealing with the unfolding effects of Hurricane Matthew.
HB2, the law that nullified a Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance, was an early flashpoint. Among other provisions, the law requires transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate in government buildings.
Cooper tried to hammer at McCrory’s credibility. “Once again the governor is lying,” he said more than once.
McCrory cast Cooper as ineffective and self-serving. “You’re about as straight as another trial lawyer who became a politician in North Carolina – John Edwards,” McCrory said, referring to the former Democratic U.S. senator who got embroiled in scandal.