Roy Cooper will likely face election denier Michael Whately in 2026 Senate race

Former Gov. Roy Cooper and RNC Chairman Michael Whatley are both planning to run for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat, setting the stage for one of next year’s marquee races.

Cooper won two terms as governor in 2016 and 2020—even as Donald Trump carried the state in both presidential elections. Cooper’s success has given Senate Democrats hope that he can win again and possibly help them retake the majority.

Axios first reported on Cooper’s intention to run.

“If you asked any D.C. Democrat who their top choices would be for the party’s nomination in North Carolina, their number one, two, and three picks would be Roy Cooper,” Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College, told WRAL.

Whatley served as chair of the North Carolina Republican Party before Trump handpicked him to run the RNC in 2023. It is widely believed that Trump chose Whatley because of his willingness to embrace debunked conspiracies about the 2020 election being stolen.

“Regardless of how these lawsuits come out around the country with the presidential race, we do know that there was massive fraud that took place,” Whatley said in a November 2020 radio interview. “We know that it took place in places like Milwaukee and Detroit and Philadelphia.”

Whatley made a similar statement in January 2021.

“I think the fact that we’re likely to have the outcome be that Joe Biden is going to get certified and sworn in does not mean that these protests are irrelevant,” he said. “It is absolutely critical that we have a national dialogue on election integrity. What we saw in places like Milwaukee and Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Phoenix is really very, very troubling.”

North Carolina is the only battleground state where Vice President Kamala Harris improved on Joe Biden’s numbers from 2020. While Trump carried the state by three points, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein won the governor’s race by 14 points. Stein’s landslide is attributed to his opponent, former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, having a history of far-right conspiracies and making racist and misogynistic remarks.

Whatley endorsed Robinson’s campaign.

Retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Republicans should “learn a lesson” from Robinson’s loss about running too far to the right.

The Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections, rates the North Carolina senate race as a “toss-up.”