North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper has broad name recognition as a former governor.
His Senate campaign is flush with cash.
And he enjoys a robust lead over Republican rival Michael Whatley in almost every public poll.
“This is the first time [Democrats] have had the wind at their backs in a long time,’’ said Christopher A. Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University (and no relation to the Democratic nominee.) “It’s a bad year for Republicans, a good year for Democrats, and Donald Trump is underwater.”
But in a state that voted for Trump three times and hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly two decades, officials on both sides say they expect the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to tighten considerably over the next three months.
