William Bryant Cooper was the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

The Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the second highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government...

 from 1921 to 1925.

Cooper was born in Cool Springs, South Carolina, on January 22, 1867. He became a prominent banker and businessman in New Hanover County, North Carolina

New Hanover County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 160,307 people, 68,183 households, and 41,591 families residing in the county. The population density was 806 people per square mile . There were 79,616 housing units at an average density of 400 per square mile...

, serving as president of the Wilmington

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

 Chamber of Commerce.

A Democrat, Cooper was elected over Fordyce C. Harding in the 1920 Democratic primary election

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 and over Republican Irvin B. Tucker and Socialist H.C. Beuck in the general election. Under the state constitution of the time, he was not eligible to run for another term.