Cooper wins North Carolina Senate seat

Democrat Roy Cooper won the open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina on Tuesday, according to an Associated Press call. The victory gives the Democratic Party a key flip in the chamber.

Cooper, who served as governor from 2017 to 2024, defeated Michael Whatley. Whatley is a former Republican National Committee chair whom President Trump selected to replace retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. This marks the first time a Democrat has won the Senate seat from North Carolina since 2008.

Money played a major role in the race. Cooper and national Democratic groups significantly outspent Whatley and Republican opponents. In the weeks before the election, national GOP organizations pulled their TV ads from North Carolina. They redirected those funds to other battleground states like Kansas.

The campaigns focused on different priorities. Cooper promoted affordability with a tour called "Make Stuff Cost Less." Whatley centered his message on crime and immigration. He criticized Cooper over a pandemic-era legal settlement that released inmates from state prisons to reduce overcrowding.

Polls suggested the economy, not crime, was the top concern for North Carolina voters this year. Whatley's campaign was his first run for elected office. Cooper's team portrayed Whatley as a Big Oil lobbyist who would act as a rubber stamp for Trump in the Senate.

Patrick Sebastian, a Republican strategist who did not work on the Whatley campaign, said the GOP candidate should have focused more on the economy. "Really it's the economy is Issue A and then Issue B is probably government corruption, that people are following the most," Sebastian said. "So when we're not talking about those issues, it's going to be hard to connect with people that go to Walmart for their groceries and can only get 80% of what they used to buy because the prices have gone up."

The race was expected to be one of the most competitive in the country. However, Whatley never led in polling. Cooper's lead widened as the race progressed. Even after pro-Whatley ads disappeared in October, Trump and Vice President Vance held multiple rallies in the state. Sebastian said those visits likely helped GOP base turnout but were not enough to save the campaign. Tillis announced in 2025 that he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened a primary challenger. Since then, Tillis has been promoting a new book that criticizes fellow Republicans.