Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has defeated Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair and a close ally of President Donald Trump, according to the election projection.
The costly, closely watched contest gives Democrats a Senate seat previously held by Republican Thom Tillis, who is retiring. With 57.63% of votes counted, Cooper had 66.40% to Whatley’s 31.96%.
“North Carolina — I’m grateful for your trust,” Cooper wrote on X. “We have more in common than divides us. Here’s to building better days ahead!”
Cooper’s win flips a Republican-held seat in a key southeastern battleground as Democrats look to regain control of the Senate in the midterms. It is also his seventh consecutive statewide victory, following four successful campaigns for attorney general and two for governor.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee praised the result, saying Cooper would continue working to expand access to health care, lower costs and help make the American Dream attainable for North Carolinians.
Republican-aligned outside groups stopped spending on the race about a month before the election, after polls showed Cooper holding a steady lead. The move suggested that some Republicans no longer saw a realistic path to victory.
At a North Carolina rally two weeks before the election, Trump appeared to acknowledge Whatley’s difficult position, telling the crowd Cooper was “going to become your senator” and that voters would send him to Washington.
Cooper, the first Democrat to win a Senate election in North Carolina in nearly two decades, campaigned on the cost of living and health care. He said he would be an independent senator, willing to work with Trump when possible and oppose him when necessary.
Whatley, a North Carolina native, chaired the state Republican Party for five years before Trump selected him to lead the RNC in March 2024. The Senate campaign was his first run for elected office. He promised to create jobs, increase wages, reduce costs and improve public safety, and said he would support Trump in the Senate.
Tillis, a frequent critic of Trump, announced last June that he would not seek re-election. Trump called the decision “great news.”
After Tillis stepped aside, Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump was considered a leading possibility for the seat. She had served as RNC co-chair alongside Whatley in 2024, but later said she had decided not to run after discussions with her family, friends and supporters.
