By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – Michael Whatley, a close ally of President Donald Trump, won the Republican Party primary for North Carolina’s vacant U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday according to media reports, setting up a close election battle in November that could help decide control of Congress.
Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who was handpicked by Trump to contest the North Carolina Senate seat, will face Democrat Roy Cooper, the state’s popular former governor, in a battleground that is one of the top targets for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Whatley emerged with over 30% of the primary vote, avoiding a runoff contest in a crowded seven-candidate primary field.
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to regain control of the Senate, but have to defend several close seats of their own.
Although Democrats have not won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008, the party believes it has a fighting chance of victory due to the political headwinds faced by Republicans over high prices and Trump’s unpopular immigration crackdown tactics. Cooper is also viewed as a strong candidate.
The seat became vacant after the Republican incumbent Thom Tillis, a vocal critic of some of Trump’s policies, announced in 2025 that he would retire from Congress early next year.
North Carolina has emerged as one of the most closely contested swing states in the last few presidential races. Trump narrowly won the state in 2024 by just over 3 percentage points. The battle to replace Tillis is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country.
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington, editing by Ross Colvin and Deepa Babington)
