Election 2026: Stumps heavy with economy, crime in U.S. Senate race

Democrat and fifth decade politician Roy Cooper's campaign to succeed Sen. Thom Tillis, flipping one of 53 seats in the U.S. Senate, is locked in on taxpayers' wallets and pocketbooks. Republican and first-time public office seeker Michael Whatley is lasered on alignment with the president and what he and critics call Cooper's "soft on crime" policies. Cooper and Whatley share the ballot with Libertarian Shannon Bray on Nov. 3, with absentee ballots hitting the mail in 14 weeks. Election Day in November, by which time four years ago 46.4% had already cast ballots, is five months from Tuesday. Republicans have 53 of the 100 seats in the chamber, and the purplish Old North State is viewed nationally as pivotal to the winning majority. It is one of nine battlegrounds for the 35 seats in play for the midterms, 22 occupied by the Grand Old Party and 13 by Democrats. Two of the 35 are special elections in Ohio and Florida, each respectively filling the final two years of terms for Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Inflation and the cost of living is easily the No. 1 choice for the top issue in the 2026 midterms for North Carolinians, according to one poll earlier this month. That's the topic at which Cooper has taken regular swings. Crime and public safety, where Whatley has hammered at Cooper's record, is a distant eighth in that poll. "I know that so many people right now are getting a raw deal from Washington, D.C., insiders," Cooper said at a Johnston County stop this week. "My opponent, Michael Whatley, is one of those Washington, D.C., insiders. You need representation in Washington who is going to put you first. I'm ready to get to work, and I'm ready to make stuff cost less." In his most recent writing this week to voters, Cooper's "Make Stuff Cost Less" campaign takes aim at federal ways to lower expenses on food and groceries; healthcare; energy and utilities; childcare; and housing. Cooper says in part, "We need to support our farmers and stop chaotic tariffs. We need to strengthen antitrust enforcement in grocery retail and food processing to block corporate mergers that reduce competition and raise prices. We need to ban algorithms on grocery pricing to make it illegal for companies to raise the price of groceries based on a specific customer. We need to stop companies from using algorithms to coordinate prices and supply information to drive up the cost." Cooper also takes aim at health care costs for residents. It comes in the face of his first-year governor solution, when he was trying to get Medicaid expanded, that if hospitals didn't pick up the tab, it would fall to taxpayers. When Cooper finally signed Medicaid expansion, expenditures rose from $6.3 billion to $27.8 billion. Plus, closures followed for Martin General Hospital in Williamston, the Asheville Specialty Hospital, and the labor and delivery unit of Betsy Johnson Hospital in Dunn. Cooper, in his writing, said electric bills have risen 22% since 2020. His proposals are related to data centers, large tech companies, times of dangerous cold and heat, and modernization of the grid. His record includes seven appointments – power to appoint was a cornerstone of his gubernatorial battles with the General Assembly – to the North Carolina Utilities Commission. That panel approved hikes for Duke Energy Progress totaling more than 17% starting in 2023; a 5% increase by Duke Energy Carolinas before the COVID-19 era, and bumps of 8.5% for 2024, 3.8% in 2025 and 3.6% this year. Several base rates were granted to natural gas utilities. Cooper also expressed plans for childcare and housing, the latter again targeting algorithms and trade policy. Whatley's campaign aligns with second-term Republican Donald Trump's "America First" platform. "Voters want a strong economy, they want a strong border, they want safe communities, and they want America to be strong and respected again around the world," Whatley said in a network interview this week. "That is the Republican platform. It's certainly what I am running on in North Carolina." It has worked. Trump won the state three times, and Republicans haven't lost a U.S. Senate seat election since 2008 – none at the midterms since 1998. Whatley said of key Democrats, and their candidates, including Cooper, "They are going to fight for criminals. They're going to fight for illegal aliens. They're going to fight for men in women's sports. They're not going to fight for the people of America." Whatley has also been steady on the agriculture front. That's the No. 1 industry in the state since forever, a $102 billion annual business. But it is the law and order segment where he has arguably most critiqued the former two-term governor and four-term attorney general. Despite its low rank in polling, it's punchable baggage in the era of political campaign attacks. Overall polling doesn't suggest it is winning enough likely voters. Like summer heat temperatures, the volume of the ticking clock is increasing. Cooper bills himself as a prosecutor of criminals and overseeing "a sharp decrease in crime." Names, however, have been made public for seven of 18 inmates charged with murder since their historic release from prison granted by the former governor's lawsuit settlement. Cooper has dismissed a state legislative probe into the 2021 settlement with the NAACP and the ACLU, calling many of the accusations lies and politically motivated. The Feb. 25, 2021, action during COVID-19 didn't include names made public at the time. The announcement said the plan was to release inmates who had not committed crimes against other people; are pregnant; are scheduled to be released in 2021; and planned to grant early release to those on track for parole. The dam burst earlier this year when state Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, unlocked the way to the names. Included in what poured out were a staggering 51 inmates from death row. The name that grabs attention most, however, wasn't among those 51. He's DeCarlos Brown Jr., the suspect from Charlotte charged in the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska aboard a Charlotte light rail on Aug. 22, video of which went viral about two weeks later, drawing national attention, including from the president. Cooper's campaign says Brown wasn't on the list and that he was released earlier. His opponents say the settlement terms allowed that earlier release to make him among those counted to satisfy the number required. Cooper also bills himself as a candidate working across the aisle. That despite state records for vetoes (104) and executive orders (328) showing a willingness to exhibit authoritarian rule. Whatley lumps him together with lightning rods like New York U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and leaders in California and New York, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, respectively. "There really are no centrist Democrats anymore because they're being driven out of the party," Whatley said this week. "The fact is, that party is going further and further and further to the left. It's a woke mob at this point in time. Every single candidate is bowing to that wing of the party. I'll mention my opponent, Roy Cooper, who is right there in the middle of fighting for criminals, fighting for illegal aliens, fighting for men who want to play in girls' sports. "This is not where mainstream North Carolina or mainstream America is, and yet that's where the Democrats really want to go, that's where the energy of the Democratic Party base is."