Democrat Roy Cooper needs to defy North Carolina history to keep winning streak alive in Senate race

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina does not mind electing Democrats as governor, but it is a different matter when it comes to sending them to the U.S. Senate.

Roy Cooper, who led the state for two terms, is trying to change that with a campaign that could reshape power in Washington.

Standing in his way is Michael Whatley, who has Donald Trump’s full backing after previously serving as the president’s chosen Republican National Committee chairman.

Both Cooper and Whatley easily won their party's primaries this week, solidifying one of this year's marquee Senate races. The campaign will draw hundreds of millions in spending because North Carolina is critical to Democratic efforts to pick up the four seats necessary to win a Senate majority.

Republicans want to frame Cooper as too far left for a state that Trump won three times. That tried-and-true tactic echoes past victories over Democrats they cast as out-of-step rubber stamps for liberal leaders, and it will test Cooper’s bond with voters established across four decades of winning campaigns as a state lawmaker, attorney general and governor.

Cooper wants to turn that narrative on its head, charging his Republican opponent with being a tool of “well-connected friends in Washington” who cannot effectively represent the state.

“Look, I’m going to be a strong, independent senator for North Carolina,” Cooper said Wednesday. He said he would work with Trump when it made sense.

Whatley does not shrink from his alliance with the president.

“His leadership has changed our country, and I am proud to stand with him in the fight to secure our border, to strengthen our economy and put America first,” Whatley said.

Whatley has history on his side but isn't well known

North Carolina is a perennial political battleground that often renders a split verdict. Democrats have kept their grip on the governor's office for more than a century, ceding it to only three Republicans during that time. But Republican presidential candidates have won the state every election except for 1976 and for 2008 — the same year a Democrat last won a Senate race.

Whatley needs those trends to make up for his lack of name recognition as a first-time candidate. As a former political staffer, lobbyist and party leader, he has deep ties in Raleigh and Washington, but less exposure to voters.

“It’s one thing to be the party guy, and it’s another to be the guy on the ballot yourself,” said former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who narrowly lost to Cooper in 2016. “We’re going to see find out whether he has it or not.”

Whatley and his supporters began an advertising campaign in the primary even though he did not face a serious challenge for the nomination.

“I went to school, I went to church. I played sports. And I worked. I was able to pay my own way through college, through graduate school and law school," Whatley said on Tuesday night. “I have lived the American dream right here in North Carolina.”

Martha Goodson, 71, is not so sure. She voted for Cooper in the Democratic primary and has doubts about Whatley's commitment to the state.

“I’m just very hesitant about people that I haven’t seen be thoroughly invested in North Carolina,” Woodson said. “I know he has served the Republican Party in a leadership role,” but “I don’t know that I had heard his name before it came up for this.”

Republican wants to poke holes in Cooper’s record

Republicans in Washington say they are eager to mine Cooper’s terms as governor, trying to turn his perceived strength into a weakness.

Although Democrats emphasize that Cooper has never lost a campaign for state office, McCrory cautioned that he never has faced the kind of negative attacks that he may this year. Looser rules on campaign spending “have changed the game,” he said.

Republicans want to mix national fights over issues such as immigration and transgender rights with state-specific matters including crime and how Cooper managed hurricane responses and COVID-19 policy.

They have pointed to Cooper's veto of legislation that would have required sheriffs to cooperate with immigration agents seeking to pick up inmates believed to be in the country unlawfully.

“Roy Cooper chose criminal illegal aliens over North Carolina communities,” Whatley said during his nomination acceptance speech.

Republicans have also focused on last summer’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. The murder suspect had more than a dozen prior criminal arrests before his most recent charges in federal and state court. Trump highlighted the slaying during his State of the Union with Zarutska’s mother in the gallery.

Democrats see health care as a strength for Cooper

The former governor has countered with a focus on the economy, including health care costs. He notes that he persuaded the Republican-controlled General Assembly to expand Medicaid coverage. The issue is back in the spotlight after Republicans refused to extend pandemic-era subsidies for insurance plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, Cooper already is trying to turn discussion of crime and immigration back on Trump and Republicans after two protesters, both U.S. citizens, were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

He said Wednesday that he wants “secure borders” and would “insist on federal resources to deport violent criminals” and “fight violent crime."

But, he said, “I think this administration is losing focus on that.”

Trump will be a constant, even when not named

Cooper is not criticizing Trump in harshly personal terms, as some Democrats are. That is likely recognition that his gubernatorial victories came in part from winning votes from at least some Trump supporters. Rather, Cooper criticizes administration policies that he says hurt the state, especially working-class and middle-class voters, and then hammers Whatley for supporting that agenda.

Democrats see that as a way to capitalize on Trump’s declining public support overall without Cooper risking alienating right-leaning voters he might be able to attract.

For Whatley, there is no option to continue embracing Trump while trying to maximize Republican voters, McCrory said.

“I don’t think he has any choice but to bring him in,” McCrory said. “The president hand-selected him.”

That message is tailored to Republican voters such as Kevin Cattell, 71, who said he wants representatives in Washington who “support and see the value and the vision that President Trump is putting forward.”

McCrory knows firsthand how powerful Trump's backing can be. In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran against Ted Budd for the Republican Senate nomination.

Once Trump endorsed Budd, McCrory said, “I might as well have been at the beach.”

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Barrow reported from Atlanta.