Governor Roy Cooper by Peter Serocki / Shutterstock.com
Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, announced July 28 he is joining the high-stakes race for the state’s open Senate seat.
In a video announcing his campaign, Cooper cited concerns over national debt, health care changes, and threats to Social Security and Medicaid.
“Right now,” Cooper said, “our country is facing a moment as fragile as any I can remember.”
The seat opened last month after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would not seek re-election, shortly after opposing President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
According to The Charlotte Observer, Democrats have long seen Cooper as their strongest candidate to flip one of North Carolina’s two GOP-held Senate seats.
Republicans responded forcefully to Cooper’s announcement.
In a July 28 statement, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez called Cooper a “Democrat lapdog,” according to FOX News.
She said he “spent his time as Governor sabotaging President Trump, doing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ bidding, releasing violent illegal aliens into North Carolina streets, and championing radical transgender ideology.”
The Senate Leadership Fund, a Political Action Committee aligned with GOP Senate leadership, released a video targeting Cooper as a “D.C. liberal in disguise.”
It accused him of supporting higher taxes, sanctuary cities, and gender ideology while vetoing bills to protect girls’ sports and ban “gender transition” surgeries for minors.
Three Republicans have entered the race so far, and Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley is expected to join soon.
Trump gave his support to Whatley in a July 24 social media post. The President said Whatley is “fantastic at everything he does” and “would make an unbelievable Senator.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, Republicans currently hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate, with Democrats controlling 45 seats and two independents who caucus with them. Democrats would need to pick up four seats to retake the majority.
