Name: 2026 North Carolina Senate race
Start: 2026-11-03
Location: NC, United States

2026 North Carolina Senate race — polls, candidates & voter guide — IJR

Where they disagree

Issue	Whatley	Cooper
	Supports tax cuts	Opposes tax cuts
	Opposes larger gov role	Supports larger gov role
	Supports strict enforcement	Opposes strict enforcement
	Supports restrictions	Opposes restrictions

Michael Whatley

REPUBLICAN PARTY

FEC filing ↗

Stated positions (22) ▾

Abortion: Supports protecting life. [1]
Border enforcement & immigration law: Supports securing the border and deporting criminal illegal aliens. [1][2][3]
China & trade: Supports tariffs as strategy to bring manufacturing back to the US. [1]
Congressional stock trading: Supports requiring members of Congress to divest individual stocks or place assets in blind trusts. [1][2]
Crime & policing: Supports restoring law and order, backing law enforcement, and opposing cashless bail policies. [1][2][3]
Election integrity: mail ballots: Supports mail ballots with signature and witness requirements, submitted by Election Day. [1]
Election integrity: voter ID: Supports voter ID requirements and cleaning voter rolls. [1]
Energy production: Supports reliable, affordable energy as key to economic strength. [1]
Environment: Views Obama climate plan as an overstep of Congressional authority. [1]
Federal spending & debt: Supports reining in Washington’s reckless spending. [1]
Free Trade: Supports new tariffs and states the world will adjust to the trade policy. [1]
Gun policy: Supports defending the 2nd Amendment. [1]
Health care: Supports replacing Obamacare with market-driven solutions. [1]
Hurricane Recovery: Supports delivering disaster relief aid for hurricane recovery. [1]
Israel: Supports a strong alliance with Israel as both geopolitical and moral. [1]
Parents' rights in education: Supports keeping radical woke ideology out of schools. [1]
Regulation & permitting: Supports reducing regulations and taxes to help farms, small businesses, and manufacturing. [1]
Sanctuary jurisdictions: Supports eliminating sanctuary cities. [1][2]
School choice: Supports school choice with opportunity scholarships where dollars follow students to public, private, charter, or homeschool options. [1]
Social Security & Medicare: Supports no tax on Social Security benefits to allow seniors to keep more of their income. [1][2][3]
Taxes: Supports tax cuts so families keep more of their money, including no tax on tips. [1]
Women's sports: Opposes transgender athletes in female sports. [1]

Roy Cooper

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

FEC filing ↗

Stated positions (33) ▾

Abortion: Supports abortion rights and vetoed a bill banning abortion after 12 weeks. [1]
Affordability: Supports policies to lower costs of groceries, rent, utilities and health care by opposing tariffs and certain corporate practices. [1][2][3]
Border enforcement & immigration law: Opposes requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement. [1][2]
China & trade: Opposes chaotic tariffs and supports congressional authority on trade policy. [1][2]
Congressional stock trading: Supports banning individual stock trading for members of Congress and top Executive Branch officials. [1]
Cost of living: Supports policies to lower costs for groceries, rent, utilities and health care by opposing tariffs and addressing corporate pricing practices. [1][2][3]
Crime & policing: Supports toughening bail laws and opposing efforts to defund the police. [1][2]
DEI programs: Supports training on unconscious bias in state government employment. [1]
EV mandates: Opposes limits on electric vehicle charging requirements and energy efficiency options in building codes. [1][2]
Election integrity: mail ballots: Opposes restrictions on mail ballots, same-day registration, and partisan poll observers. [1]
Election integrity: voter ID: Opposes stricter voter ID requirements as unnecessary barriers to voting. [1]
Energy production: Supports investing in clean energy and renewables to cut greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs. [1][2]
Fentanyl & drug enforcement: Supports prosecuting drug dealers pushing fentanyl. [1][2]
Free speech & tech censorship: Opposes criminal prosecution for expressing political opinions. [1][2]
Grocery prices: Supports blocking grocery chain mergers, banning algorithmic pricing and barring food companies from coordinating prices. [1]
Gun policy: Supports strengthening firearm background checks and safety education. [1]
Health care: Supports expanding Medicaid. [1]
Healthcare: Supports restoring enhanced ACA tax credits and reversing Medicaid funding cuts to lower costs. [1]
Housing costs: Supports building more homes, restricting corporate buyers of single-family homes, and banning algorithm-driven rent setting. [1]
Israel: Rejects efforts to block or condition military aid to Israel. [1]
Lobbying reform: Supports a ban on former lawmakers becoming lobbyists after leaving office. [1]
Marijuana legalization: Opposes recreational marijuana legalization. [1]
Medical gender transition for minors: Opposes legislation restricting gender care for minors, favoring decisions by parents and medical professionals. [1]
Parents' rights in education: Opposes bills that inject fear into classrooms or burden schools with culture war issues. [1]
Post-office lobbying: Supports a ban on elected officials and high-ranking staff becoming lobbyists after leaving office. [1]
Sanctuary jurisdictions: Opposes requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. [1]
School choice: Opposes vouchers for school choice. [1]
Social Security & Medicare: Opposes privatizing Social Security. [1]
Student loan forgiveness: Supports waiving state income taxes on federally forgiven student loans. [1][2]
Tariffs: Opposes tariffs that raise costs for families, gas, groceries and small businesses; will vote to roll them back. [1][2][3]
Taxes: Opposes additional tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest North Carolinians. [1]
Ukraine aid: Supports providing military equipment and sanctions against Russia to aid Ukraine. [1][2]
Women's sports: Opposes bans on transgender participation in women's sports. [1]

2026 North Carolina Senate race

Recent polls

Declared candidates

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2026 North Carolina Senate race

Recent polls

Declared candidates

More races

Funding raised

The betting line

No longer in this race

Where they disagree

The race wire

The race wire