Whatley, Cooper win North Carolina primaries, CBS News projects, teeing up key Senate contest
CBSN
Washington — Former Gov. Roy Cooper and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley are set to face off in November in what's expected to be among the most competitive Senate races of the cycle.
Washington — Former Gov. Roy Cooper and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley are set to face off in November in what's expected to be among the most competitive Senate races of the cycle.
Whatley and Cooper won their respective primaries Tuesday night, CBS News projects. The outcome was widely expected, and the two men have effectively been campaigning against one another for months. But with Tuesday's primary victories, the real contest gets underway.
Cooper and Whatley are facing off for an open seat representing North Carolina in the Senate after GOP Sen. Thom Tillis announced in June that he wouldn't seek reelection hours after President Trump threatened to back a primary challenge against him. At the time, the two-term senator, who's occasionally broken with his party to cross the aisle, lamented that lawmakers willing to embrace bipartisanship are becoming "an endangered species."
North Carolina was expected to be competitive in 2026 even before Tillis' announcement, and without the incumbent in the race, the open seat in the Tar Heel State emerged as a key prize as Democrats look to make gains in the Senate — and their best chance at flipping a seat this cycle.
As a two-term governor and the longest-serving state attorney general in North Carolina's history, Cooper is among the Democratic party's dream candidates. North Carolina hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 2008, and besides backing former President Barack Obama that same year, the state has historically voted for Republicans at the presidential level. But Democrats are hoping Cooper's electoral record — including his gubernatorial victories in 2016 and 2020 alongside the state's backing of Mr. Trump — will lead to a different outcome.
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