Democrats Catch a Break in North Carolina

Roy Cooper can flip the Senate seat

Democrats and all defenders of democracy should breathe a sigh of relief. Following Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis’s announced retirement, Democrats now have an ideal candidate who could flip the seat.

Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper announced on Monday that he is running. Other Democrats, including former Congressman Wiley Nickel swiftly withdrew to rally around and endorse Cooper. State party chairman Anderson Clayton issued a written statement signaling that Democrats would unite behind Cooper, noting that:

There is no one who loves North Carolina more than Roy Cooper… Governor Cooper has always put us first. Roy Cooper is one of the best champions North Carolina has ever had, and we are confident he will flip this seat in 2026.

North Carolina, which Donald Trump won by only 3 points in 2024, has eluded Democrats’ grasp in federal races since Dem. Senator Kay Hagan and former president Barack Obama won the state in 2008 (prior to that, a streak of Republican presidential candidates had held since 1976). But Cooper is a unique politician in a state otherwise inhospitable toward Democratic leaders.

For one thing, after devoting 16 years as state attorney general and 8 as governor, Cooper has statewide name recognition and respect. “With a political career going back nearly 40 years, Cooper has had a knack for winning in a state where the legislature and appeals courts are now dominated by Republicans,” PBS reported. In fact, he has never lost an election. And in his first 24 hours following his announcement, he raised an astounding $3.4M, a record for a Democratic candidate for Senate.

When Cooper left office in 2024, he had a strong approval rating of nearly 60% — for good reason. Despite a ferociously partisan GOP legislature that tried to strip his power and block his agenda at every turn, he tallied significant achievements: “He signed laws that repealed HB 2, the controversial ‘bathroom bill,’ and put North Carolina’s utilities on a path toward carbon neutrality,” The Assembly reported. “Republican lawmakers agreed to expand Medicaid to 600,000 low-income residents, a goal Cooper pursued from his first days in office.”

Cooper also raised teachers’ salaries and signed an executive order to give public school teachers paid parental leave, backed grants for students attending community colleges, and “used federal pandemic funds to refurbish racetracks and improve broadband internet access.” During his two terms, the state added 640,000 jobs. Republicans will be hard-pressed to paint him as some anti-business left-winger, given that North Carolina ranked near the top of the states in growth and pro-business environment during his tenure. And, highly relevant to his Senate race, he was widely successful in beating back MAGA extremism, vetoing over one hundred bills.

Cooper’s Senate announcement video underscores another reason he has been so successful in a state that remains solidly Republican: He is a congenial guy who is comfortable expressing his genuine religious faith:

Painting him as some “woke” socialist will not be easy.

Instead, in this race, Cooper can surely lay claim to being the sensible, grounded, pro-democracy candidate in the running. He will face off against MAGA extremist and Trump loyalist Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who previously led the North Carolina GOP Party. Whatley, a 2020 election denier, will not be able to separate himself from MAGA extremism; the hugely unpopular big, ugly bill; or Trump’s serial scandals—including the Epstein files coverup.

Whatley was on the front lines of one of the most egregious GOP gambits: its effort to steal a seat on the North Carolina state supreme court. Advancing one crackpot rationale after another and trying to disenfranchise overseas and military voters, the state and national GOP parties fought tooth and nail to deny the outcome of the election and thwart the will of the voters. Democracy prevailed and in May 2025, Justice Allison Riggs was finally able to take the seat she had won in November 2024.

In efforts such as that battle, Whatley has repeatedly stuck by MAGA extremists. He refused to push out former GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson despite his racist, radical comments, or to break with a state House candidate after the latter’s neo-Nazi affiliations came to light. Whatley pushed the North Carolina GOP so far to the right that it censured mainstream Republican Senator Richard Burr for voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, and most recently Tillis, “for working with Democrats on gay rights, immigration, and gun violence policies.”

Whatley’s anti-abortion extremism (which goes as far as embracing views antithetical to IVF) provide a juicy target for Cooper. Polling shows that 59% of North Carolinians want abortion to remain legal in all or nearly all situations. Known for cozying up to White evangelicals, he frequently speaks in favor of injecting religion into politics.

Tillis, who opposed the big ugly bill largely because of its provisions that would, or will, knock upwards of 650,000 North Carolinians off healthcare, and like-minded Republicans arguably have more in common with Cooper, who strenuously lobbied against the bill. Unlike MAGA toadies, he has also been a strong advocate for Ukraine and backed tough sanctions against Russia.

In short, Democrats have the race they have pined for in a critical swing state: a congenial, moderate, widely popular Democrat with a solid record and well-calibrated message up against a MAGA fanatic.

Democrats should fully embrace a big tent party, one that has a place for Zohran Mamdani in deep blue New York city and for Roy Cooper in red North Carolina. Their ideology and tone may be radically different, but Democrats who embrace democracy and will fight for the working and middle class against a corrupt oligarchy deserve robust, unified support. (No one expects a Mamdani to run in North Carolina or a Cooper to run in New York, so why attack a candidate who is perfectly suited to his respective jurisdiction?)

Democrats have hit the jackpot with Roy Cooper—someone who can expand their tent, win in a red state, and weaken MAGA Republicans’ chokehold on the Senate. They must not squander this gift of a candidate.