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WATCH: Roy Cooper goes to cast his ballot
(WGHP): Former North Carolina Governor and current Senate candidate Roy Cooper went to cast his ballot on Thursday morning as the early voting period opened in North Carolina.
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Roy Cooper, a Democrat who led North Carolina as governor between 2017 and 2025 and was attorney general before that, is his party's 2026 nominee for U.S. Senate.
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Live News
Recent media coverage for Roy Cooper.
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Barack Obama endorses Roy Cooper for North Carolina's Senate seat
NORTH CAROLINA (QUEEN CITY NEWS): Roy Cooper landed a major, but not unexpected, endorsement Wednesday.
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Licensable picture: Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Roy Cooper votes in North Carolina
Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat, inserts his ballot into a tabulator on the first day of early
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In a new ad, former President Obama throws support behind NC’s Roy Cooper | The East Carolinian
WASHINGTON: Former President Barack Obama is the latest Democrat to throw his support behind former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race.
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Democrat Roy Cooper Took Man Who Raped, Killed Elderly Woman Off Death Row
Soft-on-crime North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper commuted the death sentence of a man who broke into the home of a 72-year-old woman and
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Roy Cooper Campaigns for Senate at Greensboro’s Back Table
Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper shakes hands with North Carolina A&T senior Beryonne Harper as he campaigns at the Back Table in Greensboro, N.C., on Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
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Early voting in North Carolina begins soon: Here's what to know
Early voting in North Carolina runs from Thursday, Oct. 15, to Saturday, Oct. 31. Here's what you need to know before casting your ballot.
No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- June 13, 1957
- Birthplace
- Nashville, North Carolina
- Education
- Northern Nash High School
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A., political science)
University of North Carolina School of Law (Juris Doctor)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Born in Nashville, North Carolina, on June 13, 1957, Roy Asberry Cooper III is the son of a teacher and a lawyer active in Democratic Party politics, and spent summers working on his parents' tobacco farm.
He finished Northern Nash High School in 1975, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar, graduating in 1979 with a political science B.A., and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1982.
He then joined Fields, Cooper & Henderson, a Nashville law firm cofounded by his father.
Career
Cooper won the Democratic primary for the 72nd district of the North Carolina House of Representatives with 76% of the vote and took his seat in 1987.
In February 1991 he was appointed to the North Carolina Senate to finish the term of the late Jim Ezzell in the 10th district, and he was elected Senate majority leader in July 1997.
He won the 2000 race for attorney general and, sworn in on January 6, 2001, kept the office through reelections in 2004, 2008 and 2012, holding the post for almost 16 years, the longest tenure in state history.
In the 2016 governor's race he unseated Republican incumbent Pat McCrory by 10,227 votes out of 4.7 million cast. He took office on January 1, 2017, won a second term in 2020 over Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, 51.52% to 47.01%, and signed Medicaid expansion into law on March 27, 2023.
His governorship ended in 2025.
2026 race
The seat is open because Republican incumbent Thom Tillis, who had announced a reelection bid, ended his campaign following his vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Cooper entered the race in 2025, after which former U.S. Representative Wiley Nickel dropped his own candidacy and endorsed him.
Cooper took 92% of the vote to secure the Democratic nomination. His opponent in the November 3, 2026, general election is Republican Michael Whatley, a former party chair endorsed by President Donald Trump, who won his primary with 64.6%.