Former Gov. Roy Cooper is officially running for U.S. Senate, spurred on by what he describes as the failings of politicians in Washington to support the middle class.
“I’ve had enough. I’ve thought on it and prayed about it, and I’ve decided: I want to serve as your next United States senator because even now I still believe our best days are ahead of us,” Cooper said in a video released by the campaign.
Cooper is running for the seat currently held by Republican Thom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election. The seat is widely expected to be one of the most competitive in the 2026 cycle.
A Nash County native and two-term governor, Cooper also served four terms as North Carolina’s attorney general.
The announcement video indicates that Cooper’s campaign would focus initially on affordability and health insurance.
During Cooper’s second term as governor, North Carolina legislators agreed to expand Medicaid to about 670,000 North Carolinians, an effort Cooper had long supported. That expansion could now be threatened by provisions in the rescission package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“The decisions we make in the next election will determine if we even have a middle class in America anymore,” Cooper said.
Cooper’s remarks in the ad were very similar to the ones he made Saturday night at the N.C. Democratic Party’s Unity Dinner, where he teased that the formal announcement was imminent. In that speech, Cooper said that politicians in Washington are more focused on serving billionaires than typical Americans.
“They are running up our debt, they are disrespecting our veterans, they are cutting help for the hungry and they’re ripping away healthcare from millions of people, all to give tax breaks to the millionaires and billionaires. And it’s not right,” Cooper said Saturday.
GOP response
Cooper entering the race means that one of two streaks will end next fall: Either he will lose a statewide election for the first time in seven races or Republicans will lose a U.S. Senate race in North Carolina for the first time since 2008.
Republicans were quick to attack Cooper, with messages beginning within moments of the long-anticipated announcement.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee focused on electing Republicans, called Cooper “Radical Roy” in a press release that indicated attacks on Cooper’s record could focus on disaster recovery and transgender issues.
“Chuck Schumer might be celebrating, but North Carolinians are still reeling from extreme liberal Roy Cooper’s botched response to Hurricane Helene that left over 100 people dead, his pardons of violent criminals, and his vetoes that allowed boys in girls’ sports and forced higher taxes on working families,” Alex Latham, the Senate Leadership Fund’s executive director, wrote in a press release.
There are two announced Republicans in the race.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native who helped Donald Trump win the state’s electoral college votes twice while chairing the state Republican Party, is expected to enter the race.
Whatley would have President Donald Trump’s support, Trump wrote in a social media post last week, backing that is widely seen as giving him the inside track in a Republican primary.
An analyst’s take
The presumed front-runners in the race, Cooper and Whatley, are both long-time political figures with a distinct difference that could shape the campaign.
Whatley has never held elected office, working behind the scenes to support state and national candidates. Cooper, meanwhile, held elected office from 1987 until the end of 2024
Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University politics professor, said the former governor remains one of North Carolina’s most well-known politicians.
“People do know who Cooper is, and it’s harder to change opinions than to form them,” Chris Cooper said.
By comparison, Chris Cooper couldn’t find anything when he recently tried to look up publicly available polling on how North Carolinians view Whatley.
“What that should tell you is, people didn’t deem him to be a prominent enough candidate to poll about until very, very recently. And so he just doesn’t have the name recognition that Cooper has,” Chris Cooper said, noting there is a grassroots group of Republican voters that is vocally unhappy about Whatley’s expected entry into the race.
At the same time, Cooper added, Whatley’s long career as a political operative in North Carolina and nationally likely gives him an “unparalleled” fundraising network to call upon in a Senate race that is expected to be one of the most expensive ever.
Both the Cooper campaign’s announcement and the early Republican response could, Chris Cooper said, offer clues as to how the opponents will approach the race.
“Roy Cooper will likely lean into the recent bill from Donald Trump, he’ll lean into what that means for Medicaid coverage in the state of North Carolina. He’s going to lean into his record,” Chris Cooper said.
He continued, “And Michael Whatley is going to try to portray Roy Cooper as a radical, try to portray him as out of touch and try to portray him as a little bit closer to the Donald Trump vision that has been successful in North Carolina in 2016, in 2020 and in 2024.”
Democrats excited about announcement
Democrats are thrilled about Cooper’s entry into the race.
In a Monday morning statement, U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Wake County Democrat, endorsed Cooper.
“I have known Roy Cooper for more than three decades. He is a leader of uncommon integrity who has dedicated his life to fighting for the people of North Carolina,” wrote Ross, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2016.
In addition to Medicaid expansion, Ross pointed to North Carolina’s economic gains while Cooper was governor, as well as the state’s response to last fall’s Helene as reasons for her endorsement.
After Cooper’s remarks Saturday evening, N.C. House Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, said Cooper’s candidacy was “the greatest news I could have gotten.”
“Governor Cooper is an amazing public servant. … He’s not the kind of person that puts his finger in the air to figure out what would be the coolest thing to say. He’s the kind of person that says, ‘What do people need right now?’ and makes the hard decisions,” Reives said.
Legislative Democrats also urged Cooper to avoid being tripped up by culture war issues to instead focus on matters that will impact voters’ bank accounts.
Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, said Democrats should focus on the how inflation is driving up the cost of living and how the potential loss of benefits could impact North Carolinians.
“I think he knows that we need to talk about table-top issues. You’ve heard me throughout this session talk about (how) culture wars are not helpful. It is only distracting and it doesn’t bring any of us together,” Batch said.
Cooper, Reives said, was greatly successful at boosting the state’s economy. During a Senate campaign, Reives said, he would tell Cooper to keep focusing on improving people’s quality of life, housing and education.
“None of the other stuff. Don’t get baited by all of these national discussions and national issues about all kinds of things that are meant to divide us,” Reives said.
