His last position was as chief of staff for North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue until she left office in January 2013.
He was appointed to the post in June 2003 following the resignation of Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and lost a hotly disputed race for the seat in 2004 to Republican Steve Troxler.
Cobb began working for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture shortly after his graduation as a food-distribution representative, and was the first agriculture director at North Carolina's European Office in West Germany during the late 1970s.
Cobb's appointment by Governor Mike Easley as North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture was made official in December 2003; that same month, he announced his candidacy for the post in the 2004 statewide general elections.
Cobb faced Republican Steve Troxler and finished only about 2,000 votes behind his opponent; however, 4,000 lost votes in Carteret County led to an extended legal dispute, in which Cobb and his attorneys pressed for a new statewide election for the race.