RALEIGH, N.C. (July 28, 2025) — In a move shaking up the 2026 midterms, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper officially launched his U.S. Senate campaign today to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
Cooper served two terms as governor from 2017 to 2025 and previously was North Carolina’s longest serving attorney general from 2001 to 2017. With nearly four decades of public service including time in the General Assembly, Cooper has never lost an election. As governor, he guided the state through hurricanes, the COVID‑19 pandemic and legislative gridlock, signing key bills on Medicaid expansion and clean energy despite frequent clashes with a Republican legislature.
If Cooper wins, he would become the first Democrat from North Carolina to serve in the U.S. Senate since 2015 and deliver a major boost to Democratic efforts to retake the chamber. North Carolina has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly two decades, but Cooper’s popularity and record of bipartisan appeal make him a top tier candidate in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2024. Democrats currently hold 47 Senate seats, so flipping Tillis’s seat would be pivotal as the party needs at least four gains to reclaim control.
In his launch video, Cooper focused on the national debt, threats to Social Security and Medicaid, and tax breaks for the wealthy, signaling that his campaign will emphasize middle-class issues. Republicans are expected to coalesce around Michael Whatley, the Trump-backed former RNC chair, while former Rep. Wiley Nickel may step aside to clear the primary for Cooper.
Cook Political Report already rates North Carolina as a ‘toss up’, with analysts expecting a high-dollar, hard-fought race that could determine Senate control in 2026. A Cooper win could reshape the balance of power in Washington and give North Carolina a senator with a long track record of pragmatic leadership.