The choice might seem clear for the average Democratic voter, but the politics of North Carolina are hardly so: It has elected a Democratic governor seven out of the last eight elections, a streak putting North Carolina right behind Delaware and Washington State, which, as North Carolina Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson puts it, “are not necessarily purple states.” “In order to be successful in North Carolina as a Democrat, you have to do marginally better than the average Democrat,” says Jackson, who has been Cooper’s top political adviser and is now serving the same role in Stein’s campaign.