{"id":502236,"date":"2026-03-04T01:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502236\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T01:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:09:12","slug":"north-carolina-primary-to-set-stage-for-critical-us-senate-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502236\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina primary to set stage for critical US Senate campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s primary will be the official starting gun for one of the country\u2019s most closely watched U.S. Senate campaigns, likely pitting former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper<\/a> against former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley.<\/a><\/p>\n

Each candidate is the most high-profile contender for their party\u2019s nomination, which should be sealed on Tuesday. Scores of other races also are on the ballot, including for the U.S. House, state legislature and judicial seats.<\/p>\n

North Carolina, a traditional battleground where Democrats have been able to hold the governor\u2019s seat<\/a> even as voters helped send President Donald Trump<\/a> to the White House, is one of three states kicking off this year\u2019s midterm elections, along with Texas and Arkansas. Tuesday\u2019s slate of primaries comes against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran.<\/p>\n

The war, which began over the weekend, has killed at least six U.S. service members<\/a>, spiraled into a regional confrontation<\/a> as Iran retaliated and sent oil and natural gas prices<\/a> soaring. The president, who campaigned on an isolationist \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda<\/a> and went to war without authorization from Congress<\/a>, faces mounting questions<\/a> over its rationale and an exit strategy. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake<\/p>\n

North Carolina\u2019s election this year could be crucial for determining which party controls the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently have the majority. The seat is open because Sen. Thom Tillis decided to retire<\/a> after clashing with President Donald Trump. Political experts say a typhoon of outside money could make the race the most expensive Senate campaigns in U.S. history, perhaps reaching $1 billion.<\/p>\n

Many Democrats see Cooper, who served two terms as governor and has been successful in state politics for decades, as the party\u2019s best shot at victory. Democrats need to pick up four seats to take back control of the Senate, and they view the most likely path as winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Ohio. <\/p>\n

Cooper faces five lesser-known rivals on Tuesday. Other Republicans on the Senate ballot include former Navy officer Don Brown and Michele Morrow, who was the party\u2019s nominee for state schools chief in 2024. <\/p>\n

Cooper formally entered the race weeks after Tillis announced last summer he wouldn\u2019t seek a third term, as did Whatley, who was buoyed by Trump\u2019s backing when the president\u2019s daughter-in-law Lara Trump declined to enter.<\/a> The two candidates have been campaigning for months against each other with little focus on intraparty opposition. <\/p>\n

Whatley promises to keep pushing Trump\u2019s agenda if elected, one that he says has cut taxes and spending and restored U.S. military might. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important for us to have a conservative champion and for President Trump to have an ally in the Senate,\u201d he said while voting early in Gastonia. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be fighting for every family and every community in North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voters weigh in<\/p>\n

Some primary voters say Congress needs Democratic control as a counterweight to Trump and what they consider disastrous policies. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we\u2019re not headed in the right direction as a country, so I needed to express that opinion,\u201d said Shailendra Prakash, 65, of Raleigh, an unaffiliated voter who chose to vote in the Democratic primary on Tuesday and picked Cooper. \u201cMy hope is that it needs to flip.\u201d <\/p>\n

Republican voter Lisa Weaver, 64, of Apex, said she was picking Whatley because as the former RNC chairman, \u201che\u2019s in tune with the issues that we care most about\u201d and would assist the president. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that I love everything that Trump does, but I do believe in the framework that he is offering for our country,\u201d Weaver said. <\/p>\n

Cooper and Whatley already campaigning against each other<\/p>\n

A Democrat hasn\u2019t won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008.<\/a> Meanwhile, Cooper, 68, hasn\u2019t lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s, leading to 16 years as attorney general and eight as governor through 2024. <\/p>\n

Whatley, 57, previously worked in President George W. Bush\u2019s administration, for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and as an energy lobbyist.<\/p>\n

Cooper and his allies have centered campaign attacks on Whatley\u2019s allegiance to the president and Trump policies, saying he backs higher tariffs and Medicaid spending reductions and must take blame for slow Hurricane Helene recovery aid.<\/p>\n

Voting recently in Raleigh, Cooper said he wants to \u201cmake sure that I\u2019m a strong, independent senator who can work with this president when I can, stand up to him when I need to and recognize that people are struggling right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whatley, Trump and other Republicans have blistered Cooper on criminal justice matters, accusing him of promoting soft-on-crime policies while governor. They\u2019ve repeatedly highlighted last August\u2019s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska<\/a> on a Charlotte light-rail train. Trump identified Zarutska\u2019s mother in attendance at last week\u2019s State of the Union address. <\/p>\n

Cooper told reporters recently that his career is about \u201cprosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s election also includes primary elections in all but one of North Carolina\u2019s U.S. House districts. They include a five-candidate GOP primary in the northeastern 1st Congressional District, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis, who faced no primary opposition. <\/p>\n

The Republican-controlled General Assembly created last fall a more right-leaning 1st District to join Trump\u2019s multistate redistricting campaign<\/a> ahead of the 2026 elections to retain the House. Davis won in 2024 by less than 2 percentage points. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s primary will be the official starting gun for one of the country\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[164749,23,215975,124947,12,1070,228859,793,12805,228242,7181,228858,21487,215982,3508,3,2256,111,21489,9287,8638,795,3438,21,9291,19,11162,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-502236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-don-brown","11":"tag-don-davis","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-elizabeth-dole","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-george-w-bush","17":"tag-iran-war","18":"tag-lara-trump","19":"tag-lisa-weaver","20":"tag-michael-whatley","21":"tag-michele-morrow","22":"tag-nc-state-wire","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-north-carolina","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-roy-a-cooper","27":"tag-thom-tillis","28":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-u-s-republican-party","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","33":"tag-united-states-of-america","34":"tag-united-states-senate","35":"tag-unitedstates","36":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","37":"tag-us","38":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}