Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday he is running for Senate in the battleground Tar Heel State for Sen. Thom Tillis’ seat, who announced last month he would not seek reelection.
"I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina," Cooper said in a post on X.
I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/jXvuioO1T0
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) July 28, 2025
The North Carolina Senate race is expected to be among the most expensive in the nation as Republicans attempt to hold on to their slim majority in the upper chamber. With Tillis out, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley has been backed by President Trump for the open seat.
"To the Great People of North Carolina, one of the most capable executives in our Country successfully ran, along with Lara Trump, the Republican National Committee," Trump wrote in his endorsement last week. "He happens to live in your incredible State, which I love, and won, including Primaries, six times in a row! My relationship with you has been fantastic, and only enhanced by the job I did after January 20th, when I took over the flood drenched areas that were abandoned by Sleepy Joe Biden and your Governor, and, through the infusion of money and hard work, fixed the problem like nobody else has the ability to do. The one that energized that project, and so many more, was the Chairman of the RNC, Michael Whatley. I am sending this Statement out for a very good reason. Mike would make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina. He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC where, in the Presidential Election, we won every Swing State, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a landslide! But I have a mission for my friends in North Carolina, and that is to get Michael Whatley to run for the U.S. Senate. He is STRONG on the Border, stopping Crime, supporting our Military/Veterans, cutting Taxes, and saving our always under siege Second Amendment. I need him in Washington, and I need him representing YOU! Fortunately, I have somebody who will do a wonderful job as the Chairman of the RNC. His name is, Joe Gruters, and he will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. So, should Michael Whatley run for the Senate, please let this notification represent my Complete and Total Endorsement. HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Republicans blasted Cooper's decision to enter the race.
There are people you trust in the driver's seat. Roy Cooper isn't one of them.
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) July 28, 2025
He crashed schools, revved up taxes, and took a hard left on crime. When disaster hit North Carolina, he hit cruise control and showed up 3 days later.
Cooper isn't just off course, he's a WRECK. pic.twitter.com/w07kecSKKL
"Roy Cooper spent decades dragging North Carolina left, and now he wants to do the same to America," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC). "Roy Cooper supports men playing in girls' sports and raising taxes on working families. Roy Cooper marched with protestors and then let them burn Raleigh. And Roy Cooper assured all of America that Joe Biden was perfectly capable of being President for four more years. Roy Cooper doesn’t want to make America great again; he just wants to take America Left."