Election 2026: Cooper, Whatley charge into U.S. Senate matchup

(The Center Square) – Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley, amid little surprise, unofficially advanced Tuesday on primary Election Day into a showdown on Nov. 3 for a seat from North Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Each were declared winners moments after polls closed. Cooper, former two-term governor from Raleigh, was the overwhelming choice (92.4%) in a field with Wilmington’s Marcus William (2.5%), Concord’s Justin Dues (2.2%), Jacksonville’s Daryl Farrow (1.2%), High Point’s Orrick Quick (0.9%) and Rocky Point’s Robert Colon (0.8%). Whatley, former chairman of the Republican National Committee from Gastonia, earned 63.9% in early returns in charging past Waxhaw’s Don Brown (16.3%), Garner’s Thomas Johnson (5.7%), Cary’s Michele Morrow (5.5%), Smithfield’s Elizabeth Temple (3.9%), Durham’s Richard Dansie (2.3%) and the already disqualified Margot Dupre (2.4%) listed from Charlotte but later found to be more accurately from Florida. Canvassing to make results official is