Democrat Roy Cooper won the U.S. Senate election against Republican Michael Wathley, regaining for his party a seat that had been in Republican hands since 2015.
Preliminary results showed his victory an hour and a half after the polls closed at 7:30 pm with the results of early voting and mail-in ballots, which were the first results shown on the State Board of Elections (NCSBE) page.
She initially expressed her excitement about her victory through her social media.
North Carolina, let's get started. https://t.co/hLrTcJbtaJ
—Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) November 4, 2026
“North Carolina, I’m grateful for your trust,” Cooper expressed on social media shortly after the race ended. “We have more in common than what separates us. Here’s to building better days ahead!” Cooper exclaimed.
Cooper was ahead of Wathley with 60% of the votes counted, or 2,036,286, compared to 1,314,962 (38.44%) for his rival, according to preliminary NCSBE data.
Wathley conceded the victory
Shortly afterward, Cooper took the stage at an event in downtown Raleigh and told the audience that he had spoken moments earlier with his Republican opponent, Michael Whatleyand he had “acknowledged victory”.
“North Carolinians work hard and shouldn’t need a lobbyist to unlock the American dream,” Cooper said.
“That should be the job of the people you elect to represent you. And to the people of North Carolina, I accept your offer of employment,” he added.
Meanwhile, Whatley, in Gastonia, yielded to a crowd of about 100 people at around 8:34 pm
“I wanted to let you know that I just made a phone call to Governor Cooper to congratulate him on his great victory tonight, and to send him my best wishes and prayers,” Whatley told the audience.
Democrats regain seat after 12 years
The former governor will succeed Republican Thom Tillis, who decided not to seek reelection. His victory returns North Carolina's representation in the U.S. Senate to the Democrats and opens a new chapter in his public career.
The last Democratic senator to represent the state was Kay Hagan, who held the position from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2015. Hagan won the election in 2008 and lost to Tillis in 2014. With Cooper's victory, Democrats regain that same seat after 12 years.
During the campaign, Cooper focused his message on the cost of living and affordability. Wathley, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a supporter of Donald Trump, emphasized security and his close relationship with the president.
His political career
Roy Asberry Cooper III, a lawyer and Democratic politician, was born on June 13, 1957, in Nashville, North Carolina. He attended public schools and, during the summers, worked on his family's farm.
He studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in 1979 and his law degree in 1982.
His career in elected office began in the North Carolina General Assembly, where he served from 1987 to 2001, first in the state House of Representatives and then in the Senate. As Senate Majority Leader, he helped pass the 1999 law against predatory lending.
He later served as the state's attorney general from 2001 to 2017, for four consecutive terms. In that role, he focused on consumer protection, combating predatory lending, and public safety.
Cooper was elected governor in 2016, defeating then-Republican governor Pat McCrory, and won re-election in 2020. On both occasions, he won while Donald Trump was winning the presidential election in North Carolina.
As the state's 75th governor, from 2017 to 2025, he led an administration marked by negotiations and clashes with a Republican-majority legislature.
Among the key achievements of his tenure was the bipartisan agreement to expand Medicaid. He also led the state's response to hurricanes and the Covid-19 pandemic.
After completing the two consecutive terms allowed by the state Constitution, he left the governorship on January 1, 2025, when he was succeeded by Josh Stein.
His arrival in the Senate brings to Washington a career spanning almost four decades in public office and places the former governor before the challenge of turning his proposals on the cost of living into federal measures.
2026 election results
Follow our Live coverage of election results in North Carolina and the rest of the United States.
Cooper and his vision on several key issues
Economy and housing: reducing household expenses
Affordability was the central theme of their campaign, under the slogan “Make Stuff Cost Less.” Their platform proposes reducing expenses for food, healthcare, housing, utilities, and childcare.
In housing, Cooper proposes increasing supply through incentives to build multi-family units and modular homes, as well as streamlining permits.
It also proposes restricting the accumulation of single-family homes by large corporations and investment funds, and prohibiting certain practices of setting rents using algorithms and consumer data.
Health: Expand coverage and contain costs
Cooper defends the Affordable Care Act, known as ACA or Obamacare, and restoring federal subsidies for those who buy insurance on its health coverage marketplace.
Among their proposals are strengthening hospital financial assistance for patients who cannot pay, combating surprise billing, and increasing oversight of hospital mergers.
His main precedent in this matter is the expansion of Medicaid during his governorship, which allowed the incorporation of hundreds of thousands of residents who previously did not qualify for the program.
Immigration: Targeted enforcement and ICE oversight
Cooper supports an immigration enforcement focused on people convicted of violent crimes, but He opposes mass raids, to racial profiling and abuses by federal agents.
He has called for greater oversight and accountability mechanisms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As governor, he vetoed initiatives in 2019 and 2022 that would have required local authorities to expand their cooperation with immigration authorities.
In justifying the 2022 veto, he argued that existing legislation already allowed for the imprisonment and prosecution of dangerous criminals, regardless of their immigration status.
Education: a priority for public schools
Cooper has advocated for increased resources for public education, salary increases for teachers and school staff, and greater availability of preschool programs.
He has opposed allocating public funds to vouchers for private schools. In 2023, he declared a symbolic “state of emergency” for public education, with the purpose of drawing attention to the Republican legislature’s budget decisions.
Although he proposed salary increases for teachers during his governorship, not all of them were approved or incorporated into the final budget.
Employment: union support and controversies
During his campaign, Cooper highlighted his record on job creation and received support from labor organizations. However, his relationship with unions was also strained: in 2017, he signed a farm bill that restricted mechanisms for collecting union dues from farmworkers.
Regarding workplace safety, he acknowledged the risks of extreme heat, especially in construction. During his governorship, he did not establish a specific mandatory state standard to protect workers from this hazard.
Artificial intelligence and public services
His proposals on artificial intelligence have focused on its effects on consumers' wallets: the use of algorithms to set prices and rents, and the electricity consumption of data centers.
Cooper proposes that these facilities pay the full cost of the electricity they use, to prevent their expansion from shifting costs to other users.
It also proposes limiting pricing practices using algorithms and personal data.
During his administration, the state's Information Technology Department issued a framework for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in government, with requirements for transparency and human oversight.
With his arrival in the Senate, Cooper will have to translate those priorities to the federal level, where his ability to drive change will depend on the composition of Congress and the agreements he manages to build.
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