Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat in the state, giving Democrats their top recruit in one of the marquee Senate races of the 2026 midterm elections.
“I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina,” Cooper wrote in a post Monday on social media, alongside a video outlining the policies underpinning his bid.
Cooper, who served four terms as attorney general and two terms as governor, is popular in the state and Senate Democrats aggressively pitched him on running.
The seat is held by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who announced his retirement earlier this summer after saying he could not support the Medicaid cuts included in the GOP’s massive domestic policy legislation, a step that drew condemnation from President Donald Trump.
20 YEARS OF
