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

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

Pollster	Date	Cooper (D)	Whatley (R)	Spread
IJR Average	18 polls	49.1	40.6	Cooper+8.5
ECU Center for Survey Research	8/31 – 9/3	46	39	Cooper+7
Elon University Poll	8/21 – 8/31	49	38	Cooper+11
Change Research	8/21	50	41	Cooper+9

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

Public polling

Declared candidates

More races

2026 North Carolina Senate race

Public polling

Declared candidates

More races