Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina is set to leave office on New Year’s Day after two terms that began with his effort to undo the state’s “bathroom ban” for transgender people and ended with him muscling through a Medicaid expansion.

Now Mr. Cooper, 67, has plenty of options. In his farewell address last week, he pointedly said, “I’m not done.”

Many Democrats hope he will run for Senate in 2026 and help the party claw back ground in the chamber; others see him as a potential presidential contender in 2028. Asked in an interview if he was weighing bids for Senate or for president, he said “it’s hard for me to believe” that he would not want to seek public office again.

A leading campaign ally first for President Biden and then for Vice President Kamala Harris — whom he knew from their days as state attorneys general — Mr. Cooper said Democratic governors must now work with President-elect Donald J. Trump because the federal government was too important for states to ignore.

Mr. Cooper spoke with The New York Times about his legacy, his future and how other Democratic lawmakers can persuade a slice of Republicans to support liberal priorities. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When you took office in 2017, North Carolina was debating transgender rights and a bathroom ban. Why is the country still arguing over this nearly eight years later?