Cooper will take oath as others ring in 2017

Gov.-elect Roy Cooper's senior adviser, Ken Eudy, said Monday that Cooper will be sworn in shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, about a week before the official inauguration on Jan. 7.

Posted 8:00 p.m. Dec 26, 2016 — Updated 1:10 a.m. Dec 27, 2016

Laura Leslie

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov.-elect Roy Cooper's senior adviser, Ken Eudy, said Monday that Cooper will be sworn in shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, about a week before the official inauguration on Jan. 7.

The early swearing-in is not unprecedented. Outgoing Gov. Pat McCrory was sworn in on Jan. 5, 2013, one week before his inauguration, although McCrory took his oath of office at noon, not midnight.

Eudy said Cooper was moving quickly to make up time after his transition timeline was compressed. Cooper's victory was not clear until almost a month after Election Day, and since that time, Raleigh's political class has been tied up in a series of special legislative sessions.

"We aren't where we thought we would be at this point, but we'll get there," Eudy said.

Eudy added that the legislature's move earlier this month requiring Cooper's cabinet appointees to undergo Senate confirmation has made filling those positions more difficult. He said two would-be appointees withdrew their names from consideration because they did not want to go through a vetting process that is likely to be contentious, if not openly hostile.

Suggest A Correction