ROY COOPER DEFEATS MICHAEL WHATLEY IN NORTH CAROLINA SENATE RACE

Roy Cooper, the former governor of North Carolina, has won the state's US Senate race, defeating Michael Whatley, a former chair of the Republican National Committee. The result marks the first time in a decade that North Carolina has elected a Democrat to the Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat in the 2026 midterm elections. Cooper will succeed the retiring Republican senator Thom Tillis. His campaign, titled "Make Stuff Cost Less," focused on lowering the cost of food, energy and housing.

Cooper, who previously served as North Carolina's attorney general before two terms as governor, highlighted his record on expanding Medicaid and raising teacher pay. Whatley and Republicans sought to link Cooper to violent crime, particularly in Charlotte, alongside concerns over immigration and transgender athletes in sport. Campaign finance figures show Cooper raised roughly three times as much money as Whatley and never trailed him in a poll. The Senate Leadership Fund, which channels fundraising from Senate Republican leader John Thune, wrote off Whatley's chances and redirected its spending to a contest in Kansas.

The seat change came as Republicans faced difficulties in other North Carolina congressional races. The state's Republican-controlled legislature had redrawn the state's congressional maps as part of a push by Donald Trump for mid-decade redistricting, but Republicans lost a congressional seat in the west of the state. That seat became open after congressman Chuck Edwards announced in August he would not seek re-election, following a House ethics committee recommendation that he be censured over conduct towards two female congressional staffers. Jamie Ager, a farmer whose farm was damaged by Hurricane Helene in 2024, contested that seat, highlighting failures in federal disaster relief.