Election 2026: Cooper defeats Whatley, longtime Republican trend
Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley in the election of a seat in the U.S. Senate from North Carolina on Tuesday, turning back the president’s pick to help him get reelected two years ago and bucking multiple Republican trends in the state.
Cooper, 69, earned the six-year term in a race called immediately after extended time before polls closed. The former two-term governor remained unbeaten in all elections; Whatley was seeking public office for the first time.
“North Carolina – I’m grateful for your trust,” Cooper wrote on social media. “We have more in common than divides us. Here’s to building better days ahead!”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis declined to seek a third term. Tillis, Richard Burr and Ted Budd have made Republicans 5-for-5 since Democrat Kay Hagan won election to the U.S. Senate in 2008. And Democrats haven’t taken a midterm Senate seat in the state since John Edwards in 1998.
Cooper’s push on prices included groceries, healthcare, energy and utilities, childcare and housing. He pitched himself as moderate and bipartisan, yet his two terms as governor against Republican majorities in the General Assembly were fraught with litigation and he signed just one of four two-year budgets. He wielded authority, or tried, with a record 328 executive orders and a record 104 vetoes.
Cooper came to this campaign with 38 years in office: eight as governor, 16 as attorney general, 10 years in the state Senate and four years in the state House of Representatives.
Whatley previously helped many in his tenures as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, then as the Trump-picked chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Whatley’s campaign hammered away at Cooper on public safety, saying he wanted to make North Carolina safe again. He also stumped on the fight against illegal immigration, an America first economy, protecting conservative values, and bringing hurricane recovery relief to the mountains.
Republicans in statewide races for this decade – 2020, 2022 and 2024 – entered Tuesday 32-10 against Democrats, a party with significantly declining voter registrations for more than 20 consecutive years, according to State Board of Elections data analyzed by The Center Square.
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