‘Everybody Wants to Avoid a Primary’: Democrats Wait On Cooper

This story is republished from NOTUS as part of our partnership with the D.C.-based outlet.

Democrats acknowledge Roy Cooper as their strongest potential candidate to run for Senate in North Carolina in 2026. 

Yet with the former governor undecided and the odds of him launching a bid still being around 50-50, some Democrats are at least starting to reckon with the question: If not Cooper, then who?

“I know three people who told me they would immediately declare if Cooper doesn’t,” Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina told NOTUS. “And those folks who are interested are already making plans.” (Ross would not name them.)

Cooper is widely seen as the strongest challenger against two-term Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, particularly in a cycle where retirements and other circumstances have configured a tough election map for Democrats. Having never lost an election in a multi-faceted political career, Cooper has received continuous pressure from the party to join the race after terming out as North Carolina’s governor in 2024. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand privately told donors in January that Cooper would be a “formidable candidate.”

With several months until the filing deadline, Democrats have indicated to NOTUS that there isn’t a current sprint to find Cooper alternatives. However, they concede there are a lot of Democrats who are waiting in the wings should Cooper decide against it. 

“Two people I know would have already launched if Cooper didn’t signal that he is open to this,” said one Democratic consultant who has worked on various federal campaigns in North Carolina. “It’s no secret he’d sweep a primary, and people recognize that, but he could decide no. The man has been doing this a long time.”

“It would for sure be a wide-open primary if Cooper doesn’t run, but right now everybody wants to avoid a primary,” Ross said. 

Republicans have dominated the last few Senate elections in the state. Tillis unseated former Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014 and defeated former state Sen. Cal Cunningham in 2020 following reports of the Democrat’s extramarital affair. 

However, Democrats have seen promising signs of better performance in statewide elections. Despite Donald Trump winning at the top of the ticket for a third time in 2024, Democrats secured all of the major executive branch seats in the state, electing one of their own for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, superintendent, and secretary of state. 

The party is also confident that the impact of the Trump administration’s agenda will backfire ahead of midterms, putting Democrats in a strong position to win back battlegrounds. 

“In 2026, North Carolina voters will hold Thom Tillis accountable for his threats to Social Security and Medicaid and his support for the chaotic tariffs that are driving the economy into a tailspin while saddling families with higher costs,” said Maeve Coyle, communications director at the DSCC.

Former DSCC chair Sen. Gary Peters told NOTUS he looks forward to seeing a Cooper announcement, but still thinks North Carolina is within reach for the party if he decides against it. 

“It’ll be a competitive seat, one that we certainly will still have a chance to win if he doesn’t do it,” Peters said. “I truly think there are other good candidates there. I know you’ve got a former congressman [Wiley Nickel] that’s looking at it, and I think you’ll find that there are other good ones to run.”

Nickel—who retired from Congress after his first term in 2024 after his district was reshaped to favor Republicans—is the first Democrat to launch a Senate campaign in North Carolina for 2026. While Cooper has been reluctant to announce a run, Nickel has emphasized the urgency of getting started early, stating in his announcement video that “Change won’t come if we wait for some other person or some other time. The time is now.”

While party members in the state acknowledge Nickel’s bid, they note that only Cooper is likely to clear a primary field, though. 

“Folks have their eye on him, but it’s early and the party isn’t just going to lean their hopes on him,” the consultant told NOTUS, referring to Nickel. “You should expect a lot more people to throw themselves in it if, for some reason, Cooper doesn’t.”

Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.