Roy Cooper wins North Carolina Senate seat, flipping it to Democrats

Cooper’s cost-focused campaign defeated former Republican National Committee chair Whatley

Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, was elected to represent the state in the U.S. Senate, the first time in 10 years voters sent a Democrat to the upper chamber. Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair, and will succeed outgoing U.S. Senator Thom Tillis.

Roy Cooper at campaign kickoff event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 4 March. Photograph: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Cooper’s “Make Stuff Cost Less” campaign focused on lowering the cost of food, energy and housing while highlighting his record on Medicaid expansion and teacher pay as governor. The Guardian reported that Whatley and Republicans unsuccessfully tried to tie Cooper to violent crime, particularly in Charlotte, while raising concerns about transgender athletes and immigration.

Cooper has been a fixture in North Carolina politics for a generation, first as the state’s attorney general and then while serving two terms as governor. The Guardian described the politically moderate Democrat as someone who has long been the state’s most popular political figure.

The Guardian reported that Cooper raised about three times as much money as Whatley and never trailed him in a poll; Whatley was more associated with national politics than Tar Heel topics. The Senate Leadership Fund, which directs money from Republican Senate leader John Thune’s fundraising to U.S. Senate campaigns, wrote Whatley off and redirected its spending to the contest in Kansas.

Chuck Edwards, a U.S. congressman, announced in August that he would not run for re-election following the House ethics committee’s censure recommendation. The recommendation came after an investigation into inappropriate conduct toward two female congressional staffers.

Jamie Ager, a fifth-generation farmer whose farm was damaged by Hurricane Helene in 2024, ran a campaign that highlighted federal relief failures. The Guardian said Ager’s campaign capitalized on Edwards’s withdrawal and public resentment against the Trump administration.

The Guardian reported that the Senate result came as Republicans running for Congress faced a difficult national political environment. It said North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state’s congressional maps in “a national push by Donald Trump for mid-decade redistricting.” Despite the new maps, Republicans lost a congressional seat in western North Carolina.