Cooper’s candidacy brought optimism to Democrats aiming to take back the Senate this year with a net gain of four seats. Whatley, who is also a former state Republican chairman, entered the race when President Donald Trump endorsed him after Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, declined to run.
North Carolina, a traditional battleground where Democrats have been able to hold the governor’s seat even as voters helped send Trump to the White House, was one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections, along with Texas and Arkansas. Tuesday’s slate of primaries came against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran, which began over the weekend.
What’s at stake
North Carolina’s election this year could be crucial for determining which party controls the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently have the majority. The seat is open because Tillis decided to retire after clashing with Trump and the president threatened to support a primary challenger. Political experts say a typhoon of outside money could make the race the most expensive Senate campaigns in U.S. history, perhaps reaching $1 billion.
Many Democrats see Cooper, who served two terms as governor and has been successful in state politics for decades, as the party’s best shot at victory. Democrats think their most likely path to regaining the Senate majority includes winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Ohio.
Whatley promises to keep pushing Trump’s agenda if elected, one that he says has cut taxes and spending and restored U.S. military might.
“His leadership has changed our country, and I am proud to stand with him in the fight to secure our border, to strengthen our economy and put America first,” Whatley said while giving his nomination acceptance speech in Charlotte.
Moments later in his own speech in Raleigh, Cooper said inflation, tariffs and threats of health care cuts attributed to Republican policies are hurting North Carolina residents.
“These are not ordinary times. Everyday people are being left behind,” Cooper said. “And we see the chaos that’s coming out of Washington only making it worse.”
Voters weigh in
Some primary voters say Congress needs Democratic control as a counterweight to Trump and what they consider disastrous policies.
“I just think we’re not headed in the right direction as a country, so I needed to express that opinion,” said Shailendra Prakash, 65, of Raleigh, an unaffiliated voter who chose to vote in the Democratic primary on Tuesday and picked Cooper. “My hope is that it needs to flip.”
Republican voter Lisa Weaver, 64, of Apex, said she was picking Whatley because as the former RNC chairman, “he’s in tune with the issues that we care most about” and would assist the president.
“It’s not that I love everything that Trump does, but I do believe in the framework that he is offering for our country,” Weaver said.
Cooper and Whatley already campaigning against each other
A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008. Meanwhile, Cooper, 68, hasn’t lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s, leading to 16 years as attorney general and eight as governor through 2024.
Whatley, 57, previously worked in President George W. Bush’s administration, for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and as an energy lobbyist.
Whatley, Trump and other Republicans have blistered Cooper on criminal justice matters, accusing him of promoting soft-on-crime policies while governor. They’ve repeatedly highlighted last August’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. Trump identified Zarutska’s mother in attendance at last week’s State of the Union address.
The fall election will be “a choice between a conservative champion for North Carolina, who will be an ally for President Trump in the Senate, or a champion for the failed policies of the left,” Whatley said Tuesday night.
Cooper told reporters recently that his career has been about “prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”
In turn, Cooper and his allies have centered campaign attacks on Whatley’s allegiance to the president, with Cooper calling Whatley an "out-of-touch D.C. insider.”
Repeating recent comments, Cooper said Tuesday night that if elected he would be a “strong, independent senator who will work with this president when I can and stand up to him when the people need me to.”
Buckhout heads to US House rematch with Davis
Primary elections were also held Tuesday in all but one of North Carolina’s U.S. House districts.
In the northeastern 1st Congressional District, Laurie Buckhout defeated four other candidates competing for the GOP nomination and will face Democratic Rep. Don Davis in a rematch of their 2024 general election that Davis won by less than 2 percentage points.
Since then, the Republican-controlled General Assembly altered the district as part of Trump’s multistate redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections to retain the House. A now more right-leaning 1st District covers all or parts of 25 counties.
Republicans currently hold 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House districts.
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Associated Press journalists Erik Verduzco in Charlotte and Allen G. Breed in Raleigh contributed to this report.