Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley clinch North Carolina Senate nods, setting up high-stakes fall fight

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley each won their party’s U.S. Senate nominations in North Carolina on Tuesday, setting the bout for a fall campaign that could determine control of the chamber.

Whatley and Cooper were victorious in their respective primary elections over crowded fields seeking the seat being vacated by Thom Tillis, who chose last June not to seek a third term. The two announced their candidacies weeks later and had been essentially ignoring intraparty rivals and their respective sides, going after each other almost daily.

Cooper’s race entry brought optimism to Democrats aiming to take back the Senate this year with a net gain of four seats. Democrats view the most likely path as winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Ohio. With Cooper, Democrats have a popular two-term governor who served 24 consecutive years in statewide office.

Whatley, who is also a former state GOP chairman, entered the race when President Donald Trump endorsed him after Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, declined to run. Donald Trump won North Carolina in all three of his presidential elections.

Tillis’ decision not to seek a third term came as the president called publicly for a primary challenge to him because of his opposition to Trump’s big tax breaks bill, particularly for the Medicaid cuts contained within.

While Cooper currently has a significant fundraising advantage so far over Whatley, both are skilled solicitors within the donor class of their respective parties. Political experts say a rush of outside money for and against the pair could make the race among the most expensive Senate campaigns in U.S. history.

A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in usually competitive North Carolina since 2008, but national GOP campaign strategists said Cooper makes the seat more difficult to hold.

Cooper hasn’t lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s. But Democrats haven’t always translated their state government success to winning federal offices in the closely divided state.

Whatley, 57, lives outside of Charlotte. His career has included working in President George W. Bush’s administration, for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and as an oil and gas lobbyist.

Cooper and his allies have centered Whatley campaign attacks on his loyalty to the president and Trump policies that they say are raising costs on families or hurting poor people.

They’ve linked to Whatley the president’s tariffs, Medicaid spending reductions and the piecemeal distribution of aid by the Trump administration to mountain communities devastated by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

“I want to make sure that I’m a strong, independent senator who can work with this president when I can, stand up to him when I need to and recognize that people are struggling right now,” Cooper told supporters recently at a Raleigh voting site.

Whatley has continued to stick close to Trump, saying his initiatives are cutting taxes and wasteful spending and rebuilding U.S. military might in the world.

“I will be a true America First partner to President Trump and deliver real results for North Carolina families,” he said in a recent statement.

Whatley blames Cooper for promoting what he calls “an extreme radical-left ideology” that brought inflation and unfettered immigration.

Whatley, Trump and other Republicans have accused Cooper of promoting soft-on-crime policies while governor that have led to daily outcomes — in particular last August’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. The suspect had more than a dozen prior criminal arrests before his most recent charges.

Cooper rejects such accusations and in turn told reporters that he has a career of “prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”

Scores of other races also are on the ballot Tuesday, including for the U.S. House, state legislature and judicial seats.

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, is one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections, along with Texas and Arkansas. Tuesday’s slate of primaries comes against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran.

The war, which began over the weekend, has killed at least six U.S. service members, spiraled into a regional confrontation as Iran retaliated and sent oil and natural gas prices soaring. The president, who campaigned on an isolationist “America First” agenda and went to war without authorization from Congress, faces mounting questions over its rationale and an exit strategy.