Yesterday, former North Carolina Governor and Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper finally commented on the horrific stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, 23. He did it through Kate Smart, a spokeswoman for his campaign. Smart said the crime was "a heartbreaking, despicable act of evil" and that Cooper "pent his career prosecuting violent criminals and drug dealers, increasing the penalties for violence against law enforcement, and keeping thousands of criminals off the streets and behind bars."
Despite the fact the suspect in the stabbing, DeCarlos Brown, Jr., has been arrested more than a dozen times, Cooper also blamed Republican cuts to law enforcement:
The murder of Iryna Zarutska is a horrible tragedy and we must do everything we can to keep people safe.
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) September 9, 2025
Only a cynical DC insider would think it's acceptable to use her death for political points, especially one who supported cutting funding to law enforcement in NC.
Vice President Vance responded to the accusations saying, "Law enforcement arrested this thug 14 times. It wasn’t law enforcement that failed. It was weak politicians like you who kept letting him out of prison."
Cooper did not like that and continued to blame Republicans for cuts to law enforcement, including Cooper's Senate opponent, Michael Whatley
If you're really concerned about the safety of North Carolinians, Mr. Vice President, you would reverse the federal cuts to local and state law enforcement that you and Michael Whatley championed so that our police have the tools to keep North Carolinians safe. https://t.co/KkMwQlVCIt
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) September 10, 2025
In 2021, then-Governor Cooper and North Carolina prison officials agreed to release 3,500 people from the state's prisons, as part of a deal struck with the NAACP over prison conditions during COVID. On his last day in office, Cooper also commuted the sentence of Hasson Bacote, who was sentenced to death in the 2007 shooting of an 18-year-old.
Michael Whatley responded, taking Cooper to task for his soft-on-crime record, "You put North Carolina police officers in danger when your soft-on-crime policies force them to rearrest the same serial criminals over and over. The police did their job. You failed to do yours every day of the 39 years you were in office."
Undoubtedly, crime and law enforcement will play a big part of the upcoming Senate race.