Roy Cooper (D), Michael Whatley (R), and three other candidates are running in North Carolina's U.S. Senate election on November 3, 2026. Incumbent Thom Tillis (R) is retiring from public office.
Prof. Chris Cooper described Cooper and Whatley as "Both good candidates ... raise exorbitant amounts of money. Neither is going to hurt their party’s brand. It’s a true test of where the state is."
As of April 3, 2026, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Toss-up. Click here for more information on race forecasts.
Cooper served as governor from 2017 to 2025. He is campaigning to reverse tariffs and says, "The United States Supreme Court was clear that the constitutional authority on trade and tariffs rest[s] with Congress. I will vote to roll back the tariffs." He is also campaigning on his record as governor and said, "I worked with the Republican General Assembly to help create 640,000 new, better-paying jobs in our state. I worked with them to help provide paid parental leave for state employees. I think it's critical for a U.S. senator to put the people before politics."
Whatley is the former chair of the Republican National Committee. He is campaigning on public safety and said, "We need policies that are going to put more cops on the street, that are going to pay them better, and we need policies that are going to put dangerous criminals behind bars, not back on our streets." He is also campaigning on his support for President Trump's agenda, and said, "When I win this seat ... I'm going to be a conservative champion for North Carolina and I'm going to be an ally to our great president."
The Washington Examiner's Samantha Jo-Roth wrote, "Hurricane Helene’s stalled recovery is quickly emerging as one of the most politically volatile issues in North Carolina’s marquee Senate race." When the hurricane affected the state in 2024, Cooper was governor, and President Trump appointed Whatley to the FEMA Review Council to evaluate the agency's capabilities. Both candidates have campaigned on addressing FEMA in the Senate. Cooper says he wants to "recreate FEMA, because clearly, it has been almost destroyed. It's critical for us to have a federal agency ready to step up to help ... when these disasters strike." A spokesperson for Whatley's campaign says that he "supports efforts to make federal disaster management more efficient and looks forward to the FEMA Review Council presenting its report to the White House in the near future."
Both of the state's U.S. Senators, Tillis and Ted Budd (R-N.C.), are Republicans. A Democrat last won a U.S. Senate seat in the state in 2008, and last won an open seat in 1974. From 2004 to 2024, Republicans won the state on the presidential level in every election except for 2008. In that same period, Democrats won the governorship every year except for 2012.
Professor Michael Bitzer says that Cooper's record in office might help him despite the state's partisan lean, saying that Cooper's lead in early polls "suggests voters are potentially responding more to the candidate’s familiarity and profile than to party labels alone, with some openness to crossing party lines." Bitzer also added that while Whatley has less name recognition than Cooper, he "still garners strong support from Republican identifiers, which underscores the role of partisan loyalty in shaping early preferences."
Politico's Elena Schneider wrote the race "could be one of the costliest Senate races in the 2026 midterms, topping out at $650 to $800 million, according to private estimates described by both parties. That would crack the previous national record set by the 2022 Georgia Senate race, which cost nearly $500 million."[11] As of the most recent fundraising reports, Cooper raised $21.1 million and spent $6.8 million, and Whatley raised $6.3 million and spent $3.7 million. Additionally, satellite organizations such as Americans for Prosperity or Senate Leadership Fund have also spent in the race.[12] For more information about campaign finance, click here.
Brian McGinnis (G), Shannon Bray (L), and Shaunesi Deberry (I) are also running.
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. Senate in the 120th Congress. Thirty-three of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, and another two seats are up for special election. Democrats hold 13 of the seats up for election, and Republicans hold 22.
Currently, Republicans have a 53-45 majority in the chamber. To read more about the U.S. Senate elections taking place this year, click here.
This is one of 10 open U.S. Senate races this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, four Democrats and six Republicans are not running for re-election — more than any year since 2012. In 2024, eight incumbents — four Democrats, two Republicans, and two independents — did not seek re-election.
Cooper is one of two former or incumbent governors running for U.S. Senate in 2026. To read more about governors running for Senate, click here.
For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below: