What We Know About Roy Cooper's North Carolina Senate Win

Roy Cooper, North Carolina's former governor, won election to the US Senate on Tuesday, defeating Michael Whatley and giving Democrats their first Senate win in the state in a decade, according to The Guardian. Cooper will succeed outgoing Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Who did Roy Cooper defeat?

Cooper beat Michael Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, the Guardian reported. Whatley and other Republicans tried to tie Cooper to violent crime, particularly in Charlotte, and pressed conservative concerns about transgender athletes and immigration, per the outlet. Those attacks did not change the trajectory of the race: Cooper, the paper noted, "never trailed in a poll against an opponent more associated with national politics than Tar Heel topics."

What was Cooper's campaign message?

Cooper ran under the banner "Make Stuff Cost Less," according to the Guardian, centering his pitch on lowering the cost of food, energy and housing. He also highlighted his record on Medicaid expansion and teacher pay from his two terms as governor, the outlet reported. Cooper previously served as North Carolina's attorney general before becoming governor, giving him what the Guardian described as a generation-long presence in the state's politics and standing as its most popular political figure.

How did fundraising compare between the candidates?

Cooper raised about three times as much money as Whatley, according to the Guardian's reporting. That financial gap came alongside a decision by national Republicans to deprioritize the race: the Senate Leadership Fund, which channels money from Senate Republican leader John Thune's fundraising operation into campaigns, "wrote Whatley off and redirected its spending to the contest in Kansas," the Guardian reported.

Why does this flip matter beyond North Carolina?

The seat changing hands came as Republican congressional candidates nationally faced what the Guardian called "national headwinds." North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature had redrawn the state's congressional maps as part of a broader push by Donald Trump for mid-decade redistricting, according to the outlet. Despite that redraw, Republicans still lost a congressional seat in western North Carolina, the Guardian reported.

What happened to the other North Carolina congressional seat in play?

That western North Carolina seat opened up after Rep. Chuck Edwards announced in August that he would not seek re-election, following a censure recommendation, according to the Guardian's reporting. The outcome there added to the night's shift in the state's congressional delegation alongside Cooper's Senate win.

For broader results from Tuesday's voting, HTT News tracked coverage across battleground states in What We Know About Election Night Coverage in Key Battlegrounds. The Guardian is also running live updates tracking results from all 50 states.

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