Cooper takes North Carolina Senate seat from GOP nominee

Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley to claim the open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina. The Associated Press called the race for Cooper, giving his party a key flip in the upper chamber. Cooper becomes the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the state since 2008. He succeeds retiring GOP Senator Thom Tillis, who announced in 2025 he would not seek reelection after President Trump threatened a primary challenge.

Money and messaging defined the contest. Cooper and national Democratic groups spent far more than Whatley and Republican organizations. Weeks before the election, national GOP groups pulled television ads from North Carolina to redirect funds to other battleground states like Kansas. Cooper centered his campaign on affordability, branding his stops across the state as the "Make Stuff Cost Less" tour. Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair, focused on crime and immigration. He criticized Cooper over a pandemic-era settlement that released inmates from state prisons to reduce overcrowding.

Polls indicated that the economy, not crime, was the primary concern for North Carolina voters this year. Whatley made his first run for elected office in this race. Cooper’s team portrayed Whatley as a Big Oil lobbyist who would act as a rubber stamp for President Trump in the Senate. Patrick Sebastian, a Republican strategist who did not work on the Whatley campaign, noted that his party’s candidate should have emphasized the economy more.

"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 initially projected to be among the most competitive and expensive in the country. However, Whatley never led in polling, and Cooper’s lead widened over the course of the campaign. Even as pro-Whatley television ads largely disappeared in October, President Trump and Vice President Vance held multiple rallies in North Carolina during the final weeks. Sebastian said those visits likely helped improve turnout among GOP base voters but were not enough to save the campaign.

Tillis has promoted a new book criticizing fellow Republicans since stepping aside. Cooper, who served as governor from 2017 to 2025, now moves to the Senate while Republicans analyze a race where high spending and economic messaging did not translate into a win for their candidate.