State’s ex-governor bests Michael Whatley, ex-chair of Republican National Committee, by focusing on lower costs
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Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, will be the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate in 10 years, after defeating Michael Whatley, a former chair of the Republican National Committee.
Cooper will succeed the outgoing Republican Thom Tillis and his win marked the first Senate seat to turn blue in this year’s midterms.
Cooper’s “Make Stuff Cost Less” campaign focused on lowering the cost of food, energy and housing while highlighting his record on Medicaid expansion and teacher pay while governor. Whatley and Republicans unsuccessfully tried to tie Cooper to violent crime, particularly in the city of Charlotte, while pressing conservative anxieties about transgender athletes and immigration.
Cooper has been a fixture in North Carolina politics for a generation, first as the state’s attorney general, then while serving two terms as governor. The politically moderate Democrat has long been the most popular political figure in the state, raised about three times as much money as Whatley and never trailed in a poll against an opponent more associated with national politics than Tar Heel topics.
The Senate Leadership Fund, which directs money from Republican Senate leader John Thune’s fundraising to US Senate campaigns, wrote Whatley off and redirected its spending to the contest in Kansas.
The seat flipping into Democratic hands occurred as Republicans running for Congress faced national headwinds. North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state’s congressional maps in a national push by Donald Trump for mid-decade redistricting. Nonetheless, Republicans turned over a congressional seat in western North Carolina.
Chuck Edwards, the US congressman, announced in August that he would not run for re-election following a censure recommendation by the House ethics committee, after an investigation into inappropriate conduct toward two female congressional staffers.
Jamie Ager, a fifth-generation farmer whose farm was damaged by Hurricane Helene in 2024, ran a campaign that highlighted federal relief failures and capitalized on Edward’s withdrawal and public resentment against the Trump administration.
