Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is the Democrats’ best chance to flip a Senate Seat in 2026, according to the Cook Report. Having nearly 40 years in public office, Cooper has never lost an election. However, the race is rated a Tossup. His main Republican opponent is political insider Michael Whatley, who served one year as chair of the Republican National Committee.

North Carolina politics is notoriously unpredictable. The 2026 Senate election is likely to be among the most competitive and the most expensive races.

In NC-01, Democratic incumbent Don Davis is battling for re-election in a Tossup race. Davis has two Republican opponents, but one that has deep pockets, having contributed $2 million of his own money to his own campaign.

• Voters in North Carolina have regularly split their tickets when choosing who to vote for in races at the top of the ballot. The number of unaffiliated voters in the state has burgeoned, surpassing Democratic and Republican registered voters.
• The leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Michael Whatley was a member of George W. Bush's team pursuing the Florida recount in 2000.
• NC-01 Congressman Don Davis served eight years as a commissioned officer after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Afterwards, he taught national security affairs, military history, and leadership courses in Aerospace Studies at East Carolina University.
• The Republican running against Davis, Sandy Roberson, is a nursing home administrator who has served two terms as mayor Rocky Mount, a city of about 54,000.
• Democratic Party representatives are hosting town hall meetings in the state, including in rural areas where their Republican representatives fail to hold in-person meetings. But the Republican state legislature’s gerrymandering has put 13 out of 14 congressional districts out of reach of Democrats.
• Looking even further ahead, local organizations like Volunteer Blue partner All in for North Carolina are also starting to plan to challenge NC U.S. Senator Ted Budd, who will be up for reelection in 2028.