Economic concerns shaped a North Carolina U.S. Senate contest that ended in a Democratic pickup, with former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper winning the open seat, NPR reported.
NPR said Cooper made affordability central to his campaign, branding his appearances the “Make Stuff Cost Less” tour. Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley focused on crime and immigration, and criticized Cooper over a COVID-era settlement that released state prisoners to ease overcrowding. Polling cited by NPR showed voters ranked the economy above crime as a concern.
NPR reported that the Associated Press called the race for Cooper after Tuesday’s vote. Cooper became the first Democrat elected to represent North Carolina in the Senate since 2008 and served as governor from 2017 to early 2025. Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, had been slated to face Cooper for the seat after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would not seek reelection. President Donald Trump chose Whatley to run for the seat.
Early expectations put the contest among the nation’s most closely fought and costly Senate races. NPR said polling never showed Whatley ahead, while Cooper’s margin grew during the campaign. The Cooper campaign and national Democratic organizations together spent more than Whatley and Republican groups, NPR reported. In the final weeks, national Republican organizations stopped buying television ads in North Carolina and moved resources to other contests, including Kansas.
Republican strategist Patrick Sebastian, who did not work on Whatley’s campaign, said Whatley should have given the economy more attention. Sebastian separately told NPR that government corruption was another issue voters were following. NPR also reported that Trump and Vice President Vance held rallies in North Carolina during the campaign’s final weeks. Sebastian said the visits may have increased Republican turnout, but did not change the outcome.
NPR tied Tillis’ 2025 decision not to seek reelection to a dispute with Trump over the president’s tax-and-spending bill: Trump had threatened to back a primary challenger after Tillis opposed the measure. Tillis has promoted a book criticizing fellow Republicans, NPR said.
