Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday officially jumped into the race for US Senate, teeing up a bruising fight for a seat that could tip the balance of power in the upper chamber.
Cooper’s entrance into the Tar Heel State race is a major win for Democrats, given the two statewide races he won to serve as governor.
Now he seems on track to square off against Trump-endorsed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, who has yet to formally declare his candidacy.
“Right now, our country is facing a moment as fragile as any I can remember, and the decisions we make in the next election will determine if we even have a middle class in America anymore,” Cooper said during his announcement.
“I never really wanted to go to Washington. I just wanted to serve the people of North Carolina, right here where I’ve lived all my life. But these are not ordinary times.”
The former governor’s entry into the race comes just over a month after incumbent GOP Sen. Thom Tillis announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection. Tillis passed on a reelection bid after a high-profile clash with President Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Tillis was widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans heading into the 2026 midterm election cycle, alongside Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
North Carolina is generally considered a must-win for Democrats if they are to have any chance of flipping the Senate Democratic in 2026. Cooper is widely seen as their most formidable candidate, though he will have to win a primary first.
In his campaign launch video, the ex-gov conveyed a populist message, lamenting how “for too many Americans, the middle class feels like a distant dream.”
Cooper also bashed politicians in Washington, DC, for jacking up the national debt, “disrespecting our veterans” and cutting government funding for health care.
Despite North Carolina being a swing state — meaning it could go either way, given its voters are fairly evenly split between the two parties — Democrats haven’t been able to win a Senate race there since 2008. Meanwhile, they’ve held the governor’s mansion since 2017.
Cooper narrowly eked out a win by about 0.22 percentage points in 2016, then notched reelection by about 4.5 points. His Democratic successor, Gov. Josh Stein, walloped scandal-scarred Republican Mark Robinson by almost 15 points in November — during the same time that Trump carried the state.
Last week, Trump tapped Whatley, who previously helmed the GOP in North Carolina, as his pick for the expected highly competitive race with Cooper.
“Mike would make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina. He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC where, in the Presidential Election, we won every Swing State, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a landslide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
That preemptive endorsement came after the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara, opted against vying for the Senate seat.
A source previously told The Post that Whatley is expected to enter the race.
Republicans have a 53–47 majority in the Senate and will have to defend 22 of the 35 seats up for grabs in 2026.
While North Carolina and Maine are generally seen as the GOP’s most vulnerable seats, Democrats have to protect a seat in Georgia held by Sen. Jon Ossoff.
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