Cooper, Whatley Win Senate Primaries in NC

Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley each won their party's US Senate nominations in North Carolina on Tuesday, setting the stage for a fall campaign that could determine control of the chamber.

• Whatley and Cooper were victorious in their respective primary elections over crowded fields seeking the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who chose last June not to seek a third term after clashing with President Trump, the AP reports. The two announced their candidacies weeks later and had been essentially ignoring intraparty rivals and their respective sides, going after each other almost daily.

• Cooper's race entry brought optimism to Democrats aiming to take back the Senate this year with a net gain of four seats. Democrats view the most likely path as winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska, and Ohio. With Cooper, Democrats have a popular two-term governor who served 24 consecutive years in statewide office.
• Whatley, who is also a former state GOP chairman, entered the race when President Trump endorsed him after Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, declined to run. Donald Trump won North Carolina in all three of his presidential elections. Whatley promises to keep pushing Trump's agenda if elected, one that he says has cut taxes and spending and restored US military might.

• A Democrat hasn't won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008. Meanwhile, Cooper, 68, hasn't lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s, leading to 16 years as attorney general and eight as governor through 2024.
• "It's not just that Roy Cooper has never lost a race in 40 years, he's overcome a Republican-leaning electorate to win a statewide election six times," Larken Egleston, a three-time DNC delegate, tells CNN. "He has damn near 100% name ID. It's going to be hard for Republicans—and you can see them having difficulties already—to turn him into a caricature. For better or for worse, whether people like Roy or not, North Carolina knows him."