Cooper's first ad is back to the future

Roy Cooper's first ad is straight out of the 1990s and, yet, not out of date.

Roy Cooper released his first campaign ad this week. It’s a traditional ad without the flash of a lot of today’s introductory videos. He talks about growing up on a farm imbued with the values of his parents, a schoolteacher and small-time lawyer and part-time farmer. He’ll go after “insurance companies ripping you off, to make sure you can retire with dignity, and build an economy that finally values working people.” His target audience seems to be older, rural voters native to North Carolina.

It’s a nostalgia ad, connecting Cooper to the voters Democrats need to reach — people who grew up here and stayed close to home. It recalls a time when life was “easier,” when church and high school football were staples. It’s a paean to the small town and rural communities that dominated North Carolina throughout the 20th century. He’s appealing to the people who have been electing Republicans by validating both the threat to their lifestyle and the belief they can have it again.

Five months before the election, Cooper has consolidated his base and is going after the voters who used to routinely vote for Democrats, but haven’t in a while. The ad is straight out of the 1990s or early 2000s, and yet not out of date. We used to see a version of that ad regularly. They say, “I’m one of you” when “you” were mostly native North Carolinians.

Today, much of the Democratic base is more likely to have been to brunch or a soccer match than to church or Friday night lights. Cooper is going after GOP-leaning voters at a time when they are getting left behind by Republicans. He might not be able to win rural counties, but he can cut the margins by peeling off people who feel let down by Trump and the GOP Congress who promised an end to wars and lower prices.

Cooper’s ad indicates that some people in rural America may be tiring of GOP promises that never deliver. In recent years, Republican ads have focused on cultural issues and threats from outsiders. They’ve been full of tough-talking politicians warning about liberals coming for their guns and immigrants bringing crime to small towns. They’ve been designed to sow fear and division. In reality, we have more guns than ever and most of the immigrants, whether here legally or illegally, are law-abiding and keeping local economies afloat.

Cooper’s ad shifts the problem from liberal politicians to ones who would let insurance companies gouge people and make working and aging more difficult. His villain is specific, not vague. He’s targeting insurance companies, not oligarchs. He’s speaking a language people understand that sounds less ideological and more practical.

We’ve been hearing for the past year or so that progressives and Democrats want fighters. They want people who will take on Trump and oligarchs. What Cooper understands is that the people who will determine the election just want a better life. They might not know who the tech billionaires are, but they know Cigna or Blue Cross or UnitedHealthcare get too much of their money while offering too little coverage. And they know that politicians aren’t doing enough to balance that out.