Former Governor Roy Cooper is still much-loved in North Carolina and is rising to meet our present crisis. His opponent is so deeply compromised that this seat is entirely flip-able. Support Roy directly!
Donate via ActBlue »Start with an interview with Roy Cooper. Then catch up with a new interview on the September 15 state of his race — it includes a transcript, a summary of his political record, and reader comments on Cooper from across the country.
See an interview with Anderson Clayton, NC State Democratic Party Chair and nation-wide rising star. The interview was recorded two days after the NC hugely successful Primary on March 3, 2026.
A new interview of Roy Cooper by Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket, about NC in MAGA's crosshairs for voter suppression and a state's open resistance.
In other NC news, Democrats are showing they are resurgent state-wide. State legislators who crossed the aisle to help Republicans override Democratic Governor Josh Stein's vetoes were ousted in the primary — boding very well for flipping NC and Cooper helping flip the US Senate. See coverage here.
In a speech more than a year ago, Anderson Clayton said, "North Carolina is not a red state or a purple state, it is an unorganized state…". Well, not anymore! Democrats are running candidates in all 170 state legislative and 14 Congressional districts in North Carolina this year — a huge undertaking for the Party and its allies, and a successful one. Anderson says that any district without a Democrat on the ballot means each Democrat in that district has nowhere to go. Unacceptable. So she and they fixed it. Dig deeper here.
Politico calls Cooper and Brown linchpins of Democrats' increasingly realistic Senate flip prospects. On April 13, Cook Political Report upgraded this race from Tossup to Lean D. A massive Republican ad campaign against Cooper — despite the GOP currently holding this seat — is itself evidence they know they're at risk even in states they hold.
New interview (April 6) about the threat of election interference by the Trump administration. Watch Governor Cooper speak to his supporters in Durham, NC. Newsweek on recent polling in the NC race — the numbers favor Cooper.
The Race
"Stuff costs too much" is Roy Cooper's campaign theme, and it has North Carolina voters' attention. "I'll work with anybody to make stuff cost less…" — that's how the Washington Post explains Roy becoming Democrats' best chance to flip a Senate seat. Republicans are panicking about North Carolina — and they should be; here's a local paper's summary. The polling has been steadily one-directional: a late-June poll put Roy's lead at 14 points, and a Fox News poll — yes, Fox — showed the former Governor way ahead of his former RNC Chair opponent. How embarrassing for MAGA. The New Republic offers a more nuanced look at NC's strengths and weaknesses for Democrats in the waning months of the race: Cooper has real assets, but the national Republican coffers are still a concern. Lots to mull over there.
At a recent event, Cooper reminded Western NC voters that Hurricane Helene cost them $60B, of which MAGA-federal aid covered only 15% — disaster-aid retribution from this administration is another outrage, and flipping the Senate to one with teeth is the whole point.
The Whatley campaign just can't catch a break, and it's their own dumb fault — they'll try to fill the cracks in their own performance with lots of money. Will it work?
The Opponent
Michael Watley is so ingrained as a Washington DC MAGA lobbyist that NC Republicans say they don't know him. American Bridge's research into Watley's record is astonishingly irrelevant to the interests of North Carolinians. See it here. The NC Democratic Party documents Whatley's financial compromises — he lobbied for Duke Energy and argued for rate increases on NC families.
You just can't make this stuff up. The GOP got its wires crossed and got caught: an ad against Cooper confused South Carolina with North Carolina. Like New Mexico gets confused with that other Mexico. Cooper's a smart guy who has yet to lose an electoral race — he'll not let a dumb slip like that go by easily.
Follow the private-prison money: the two major private prison companies sent big-dollar donations to the Republicans in six of our seven Senate races — North Carolina included — as soon as Republicans voted to pay them exorbitantly for every day they hold a detainee. What other reason might there be to vote these graven bums out?
Latest Updates
- David Plouffe warns: "don't take NC for granted…" Complacency is a dangerous stalker in electoral politics. Stay focused, folks.
- We've written about NC's Democratic Party Chair, Anderson Clayton, before. On October 12, she updated the NC race from her vantage point — that of perhaps the most promising state party chair we have.
Endorsements & Support
- Frank Bruni — the Duke professor and longtime New York Times columnist — devotes an entire column to the Roy Cooper race.
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare PAC
- Giffords PAC — endorses Roy as a reliable ally on gun safety
- Campaign website
Local Organizing
- Indivisible Charlotte
- Indivisible Asheville
- North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDEMS)
- Volunteer with the campaign
Roy Cooper won the Democratic Primary for US Senator on March 3. Democrats turned out 200,000 more votes in their primary than Republicans did in theirs. A similar over performance occurred in Texas.
