POLICY WIRE FACT CHECK: Republican Ad Attacks Cooper with Misleading Claim About Rape Kits
The Claim A Republican super PAC, No Going Back PAC Inc., has been running an advertisement that falsely claims North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper, who was the state’s attorney general from...
The Claim
A Republican super PAC, No Going Back PAC Inc., has been running an advertisement that falsely claims North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper, who was the state’s attorney general from 2001 to 2017, allowed 16,000 untested rape kits to sit on the shelf during his tenure. The ad, which has been widely circulated across broadcast and digital platforms, features a narrator accusing Cooper of betraying rape victims by failing to test these kits, which are used in forensic medical examinations and as evidence in sexual assault cases.
The ad opens with the statement, “What kind of politician betrays rape victims? Ask Roy Cooper. He let 16,000 untested rape kits sit on the shelf. Cooper denied justice to survivors.” This claim is presented as a direct accusation against Cooper, implying he had control over the kits and deliberately neglected their testing. The ad was funded by No Going Back PAC, which is affiliated with MAGA Inc., a super PAC linked to former President Donald Trump. The ad has cost over $2.3 million since its launch on September 10, 2026, according to AdImpact.
The Details & Investigation
The claim that Cooper allowed 16,000 untested rape kits to sit on the shelf is misleading and lacks factual accuracy. The kits in question were not under the direct control of Cooper’s office as attorney general; rather, they were held by hundreds of local law enforcement agencies across North Carolina. As head of the North Carolina Department of Justice, which included the state crime laboratory, Cooper did not have authority over the storage or submission of kits by local jurisdictions. The kits were never submitted for testing by the state crime lab during his time in office, but this was due to systemic failures at the local level, not any negligence on Cooper’s part.
In 2017, a new state law required local law enforcement agencies to conduct an inventory of all rape kits in their possession. This audit, which was mandated by legislation that Cooper had vetoed as governor, revealed that more than 500 local agencies had 15,160 untested kits in their custody. According to the North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ), many of these kits were tied to cases that had already been resolved, lacked sufficient evidence, or involved victims who chose not to report the incidents. The NCDOJ also noted that some kits were associated with cases where suspects admitted to the crimes, while others were deemed unfounded after further investigation.
📄 POLICY WIRE WHITEPAPER PUBLISHED: PAKISTAN’S NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY PRIORITIES
Cooper’s administration later signed the Survivor Act in 2019, which provided funding for testing and established a legal requirement for local agencies to submit kits to the state crime lab within 45 days of receipt. This legislation aimed to address the backlog and improve accountability. However, the ad does not acknowledge these efforts or the fact that the inventory was conducted after Cooper left the attorney general’s office. Instead, it frames the issue as a personal failure of Cooper, which is inaccurate and omits critical context.
Ilse Knecht, director of policy and advocacy at the Joyful Heart Foundation, emphasized that the backlog of untested rape kits is a result of a system-wide failure, not the actions of a single individual. She explained that local law enforcement often made decisions about whether to send kits for testing based on subjective judgments, such as the perceived credibility of the victim or the likelihood of a successful prosecution. These decisions were not centrally controlled and were hidden until the 2017 inventory. Therefore, the ad’s implication that Cooper alone is responsible for the backlog is misleading and fails to reflect the complexity of the issue.
The Verdict
The claim in the Republican ad that Roy Cooper let 16,000 untested rape kits sit on the shelf is a misleading representation of the facts. It misattributes responsibility for a systemic issue that was not under Cooper’s direct control. While the backlog of untested kits was indeed a problem in North Carolina, the ad simplifies a multifaceted issue and places undue blame on Cooper, who had no authority over local law enforcement’s handling of the kits. The inventory conducted in 2017 revealed that the kits were in the possession of local agencies, not the state crime lab, and that many had already been resolved or were not viable for testing.
Furthermore, the ad fails to mention the legislative actions taken by Cooper and the state legislature to address the issue, including the Survivor Act of 2019. The claim is therefore classified as MISLEADING, as it presents a distorted narrative that does not accurately reflect the historical and legal context. The ad’s framing is designed to influence public perception without providing the full picture, making it a clear example of disinformation intended to damage Cooper’s reputation.
Counter-misinformation & disinformation investigation conducted by PolicyWire Editorial Desk (PW).
