North Carolina

‘Unprecedented’ national cash: North Carolina Dems have tunnel vision for Roy Cooper

The state’s former governor tops his party’s wish list, following Thom Tillis’ decision not to run for another Senate term.

By Elena Schneider

Roy Cooper would solve a lot of Democrats’ problems in North Carolina — and it’d still be an uphill battle.

The state’s soon-to-be-vacated U.S. Senate seat is the party’s most tantalizing pickup opportunity on a difficult 2026 Senate map. Democrats haven’t won the state in nearly two decades, and for months, they’ve been waiting for the two-term former governor to decide whether he’ll enter the race and immediately boost their prospects through his strong approval ratings and fundraising network. Cooper’s looming decision has effectively frozen recruitment in the state and no one else, many Democrats privately concede, can match his chances.

The pressure on Cooper intensified over the weekend, when Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced that he wouldn’t be running for reelection, after he clashed with President Donald Trump over Medicaid cuts in his megabill.

“He has the best shot and he is the most sure shot,” said Democratic state Sen. Graig Meyer. “Once you get past Roy Cooper, everyone else has a shot, yes, but then it’s dependent on any number of things going right for them.”

Morgan Jackson, Cooper’s top political adviser, confirmed the ex-governor is “strongly considering a run” and “will decide in the coming weeks.” He added that Tillis’ decision hasn’t changed Cooper’s calculus.

But it does change Democrats’ prospects. The new reality of competing for an open battleground seat instead of trying to oust a two-term incumbent intensifies the party’s search for a candidate if Cooper doesn’t run. As former North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who has directly urged Cooper to run, said: “If he’s going to run, we need to know quickly.”

North Carolina’s Senate seats have eluded Democrats since 2008. Even as Cooper and his successor, Democrat Josh Stein, won the governorship by defining themselves outside the national Democratic brand, candidates haven’t succeeded in replicating that federally for years. That’s part of Cooper’s allure — his strong in-state brand and aw-shucks demeanor, coupled with his ability to draw major donors to an expensive state, is unique among potential candidates, said several national and North Carolina Democrats who were granted anonymity to candidly assess the looming primary.

“The national money we could have here with Cooper in this race would be unprecedented,” said one Democratic operative in the state. “Cooper opens up donor money that could radically transform what’s possible here.”

A national Democratic consultant who has worked in North Carolina called Cooper “maybe the only candidate who can win in this political environment, when Democratic branding is in the toilet.”

Cooper was the state’s attorney general for 16 years, topping national Democrats’ recruitment lists for years before running for governor in 2016. He unseated Republican Gov. Pat McCrory the same year Trump won the state. He led during several natural disasters, including the Hurricane Helene that devastated western North Carolina last September. And he left his post with a strong approval rating.

“He has a brand, a reputation, for being a down-to-earth, good man, and it’s harder to demonize someone when they know who you are,” said North Carolina state Sen. Lisa Grafstein. “He’s able to overcome the way the national narrative pushes toward Republicans in federal races here because people know him.”

The Republican primary to replace Tillis could be messy — though Trump’s endorsement could help clear a path. Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, is considering a bid, as are Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley and Rep. Pat Harrigan, a former Army Special Forces officer who won a House seat in November.

Cooper’s backers believe he “would clear the field” and avoid infighting on the Democratic side, Butterfield said, “I’m rather confident of that.”

At least one Democrat hasn’t waited for Cooper: Former Rep. Wiley Nickel, who didn’t run for reelection to his House seat in 2024 after a redrawing of his district, entered the race in April. In an interview, he argued that his experience flipping a swing seat in 2022 prepared him to do the same statewide against “no matter which MAGA loyalist Donald Trump handpicks to run in North Carolina.”

When asked whether he would continue to run were Cooper to jump in, Nickel said, “right now, [Cooper] is not a candidate and I’m running for the Senate, so any kind of hypotheticals, I don’t want to go there.”

Should Cooper not run, several other Democrats are also eager to jump in. Among the North Carolina Democrats being whispered about as potential candidates are former Rep. Dan McCready, former Environmental Protection Agency Director Michael Regan, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, state Rep. Sarah Crawford and Canton, N.C., Mayor Zeb Smathers.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who won his statewide office in 2024, would “I’m sure get a call from [U.S. Sen. Chuck] Schumer … if Cooper didn’t get in,” said one state-based Democratic strategist, granted anonymity. Jackson, who won a House seat in suburban Charlotte after he dropped out of the 2022 Senate primary, built a buzzy profile for himself in Congress. He posted regularly on TikTok, picking up more than 2 million followers — giving him, like Cooper, more name recognition.

Even though some Democrats said they were excited for a fresh face, the first operative said, “nobody knows who they are and there isn’t enough time now to build that name recognition in-state and with national donors.”

Jackson did not return requests for comment.

Even progressives — riding high after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani toppled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral race last week — are likely to hold their fire if Cooper mounts a bid.

“If it’s Roy Cooper, there’s no point for anyone else to run,” said a progressive strategist who helps recruit candidates and was granted anonymity to discuss the race candidly. “But no one is getting out the way for Wiley fucking Nickel.”