2026 ELECTION COVERAGE: Watch Live | Poll Closing Times | All Live Results | Live Updates | Live Fact Check
Supporters erupted into cheers, hugs and chants when they learned former Gov. Roy Cooper had won election to the U.S. Senate representing North Carolina.
Watch Cooper speak in the video player above.
A crowd gathered in a downtown Raleigh hotel ballroom Tuesday night, where music was thumping and CNN played on a big screen. When the news of Cooper’s victory appeared, the crowd exploded and began chanting, “Cooper! Cooper!”
Anderson Clayton, who leads North Carolina’s Democratic Party, said Cooper’s decades in elected office made him an especially strong candidate.
Stand with free and independent journalism. Join Press Pass from PBS News
“He’s woven into the fabric of North Carolina,” she said.
By electing Cooper, North Carolina voters chose “competence over chaos,” Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said in a speech shortly after the race was called.
Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley.
The former two-term governor told cheering supporters that he spoke to Whatley and said his opponent acknowledged the result.
“Thank you for everything you did to take this United States Senate seat back for the people of North Carolina,” Cooper said.
He also promised to be an “independent voice” for the state.
Cooper said the campaign was about standing up for people who felt crushed by Trump’s tariffs and the cost of fuel and fertilizer “because of this never-ending war.”
Explore more of our Vote 2026 coverage
