WASHINGTON - Roy Cooper announced he will run for an open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina, a big win for Democrats who had been eyeing the former two-term governor as their best chance of flipping the swing state seat in the 2026 midterms.
Cooper, 68, is joining what is expected to be a competitive race to succeed Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who said he will not seek reelection. President Donald Trump has already weighed in on the race, endorsing Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley - who has yet to announce his candidacy - in a social media post.
In a video shared on X July 28, Cooper said that he “never really wanted to go to Washington," before adding: “But these are not ordinary times.
Cooper served as the North Carolina governor from 2017 to 2025, during which he expanded Medicaid coverage in the state, raised teacher pay and worked to address climate change. He previously served in the state’s legislature and as North Carolina’s attorney general.
After Cooper’s announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the main campaigm arm for Senate Republicans, quickly released an ad criticizing him as a “wreck.”
