Spotted! Roy Cooper Attends Wedding Of Lobbyist With Ties To Communist China
Last weekend, Senate Candidate former Governor Roy Cooper was spotted by Politico Playbook (a gossip publication for DC insiders) at a wedding of Katie Hendrickson, a principal at the Vogel Group, and Drew Cockram. The Vogel Group is an international government affairs and consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., serving companies, associations, and asset managers around the world.
“Radical Roy Cooper is already making himself at home in the DC swamp where he can continue his cozying up to left-wing donors,” said NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer. “Career politicians like Cooper are always in search of the next paycheck and sticking North Carolina hard-working families with the bill.”
Hendrickson is a principal at the Vogel Group that lobbies on behalf of Gotion, a Chinese electrification company. According to Gotion’s corporate documents, a vehicle for the work of the Chinese Communist Party, the company even pledges its allegiance to the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China."
Hendrickson recently registered to lobby for NVIDIA, which was recently exposed for powering the CPP’s DeepSeek AI that is “designed to spy on Americans, steal our technology, and subvert U.S. law.”
Katie Hendrickson is the daughter of Thomas Hendrickson, a former state Democratic Party chair and leader of Cooper’s dark money that promised access to Cooper, while he was Governor. While her father was running Cooper’s dark money operation, Katherine worked as the Deputy Director of Boards and Commission, where she could help find appointments for the donors writing massive checks to Cooper’s reelection efforts.
This is just one example of Roy Cooper’s cozy relationship with entities of the Chinese Communist Party and his focus on hobnobbing with political insiders.
In 2017, Cooper recruited a Chinese tire manufacturer to North Carolina with $152 million in incentives, with a promise of thousands of jobs. In 2016, before the North Carolina announcement, Triangle Tyre, the Chinese manufacturer, was found guilty of violating American patents. In 2022, the company announced that it planned to cancel the project. This company was started by the Chinese government in 1976, and still likely maintains close links with the Chinese Communist Party and complies with Chinese laws that require cooperation with the CCP.
While Cooper was governor, the amount of farmland owned by Chinese interests grew. In 2010, no North Carolina farmland was owned by a Chinese interest. But by the end of 2024, Chinese interests controlled over 50,000 acres of North Carolina farmland, according to a USDA report. North Carolina is home to several important military bases.
At the time, the Republicans in the legislature were working on the issue, while Cooper was conspicuously silent about the risk to national security.
Another classic example of Cooper focusing on liberal elites over North Carolinians was his decision to “kick off” his 2020 reelection campaign for governor of North Carolina in New York City.
No wonder that when Helene was threatening North Carolina, Cooper was giving a speech on climate change in New York City, not overseeing preparation efforts ahead of what turned out to be one of the deadliest storms in North Carolina history.
Tim’s Take: Cooper has hardly been seen on the campaign trail, but he prioritizes attending a lobbyist’s wedding. In contrast, Michael Whatley has been out in Western North Carolina to discuss updates on Helene's recovery, meeting voters at an NC State game, and speaking at Vice President J.D. Vance’s event to discuss the need for stronger law enforcement. Schedules show priorities, so it's clear the Coopers’ priorities are with lobbyists, not North Carolinians.
