In the midst of a big mid-term cycle for Republicans, the race for the vacant North Carolina senate seat has heated up as campaign funds have entered the tens of millions. 

Senator Thom Tillis currently occupies one of the Tar Heel State’s Senate Seats, and announced he will not be seeking re-election this coming cycle. Tillis vocally disapproved of Trump in recent weeks.

In the 2026 first quarter, Republican Michael Whatley’s campaign managed to raise around $5 million. However, Democratic challenger Roy Cooper more than doubled Whatley’s fundraising, accumulating $13.8 million. Cooper announced he would run to replace Senator Tillis when Tillis said he wouldn’t run for the seat again. Cooper was succeeded due to term limits in 2024 by current Democratic governor Josh Stein.

During Cooper’’s time in office, his power was relatively limited due to the Republican super majority in the legislative branch. Once the super majority was removed, Cooper vetoed multiple bills. Some of this vetoed legislation includes: increased jail time/punishment for Doctors who don’t resuscitate infants who survive abortions, a requirement that county sheriff’s offices cooperate with ICE, and the approval of a sweeping school choice scholarship program. 

Cooper’s campaign is centered around a motto of “Make Stuff Cost Less.” However, Cooper’s campaign supports a wide range expansion of government subsidized health care. Cooper also claims to support farmers and wants to lower the cost of groceries. When in office, Cooper vetoed legislation for the protection of hog farmers against lawsuits. 

Michael Whatley, served as the DNC chair since he was elected in 2024. Whatley oversaw the GOP red wave in the 2024 General, when republicans took the House, Senate, and Presidency. After his success, Whatley was reelected and Trump-endorsed as RNC chair in 2025. Due to his position in the RNC, Whatley is heavily campaigning his strong relationship with President Trump. 

 Whatley has been a big proponent of tax cuts, for citizens and corporations to do business. Whatley said he has seen tax cuts as the route to achieve job creation and a strong economy. Whatley mentions prioritizing, small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers, who he labels as “job creators.” (RELATED: New Poll Shows NC Republican Base Will Walk Away From 2026 Senate Race If SAVE America Act Dies In The Senate)

“The real conversation that we’re having today is how do we create more jobs, how do you create better jobs, how do we make sure people are going to take home more money, and how do we make sure that people are going to keep more money that they could use for their households in North Carolina?” Whatley said.  

On a foreign policy front, Whatley believes the U.S. should remain on track with Trump’s handling of Iran, while continuing to prevent their possession of nuclear weapons. Whatley is also a supporter that the U.S. should continue to strive for the goal of being the number one energy producer.

(RELATED: Gov. Stein Demands Pay Raises While Doing Nothing To Break The Two-Year Legislative Stalemate He Helped Create)

(RELATED: System Failing Iryna Zarutska: Charlotte Light Rail Murder Suspect Dodges Trial On Mental Health Grounds As Family Waits For Justice)

North Carolina Republicans have one of the clearest paths to a Senate pickup in the entire country heading into 2026, but a new poll suggests they may be walking away from it if Senate Republicans don’t deliver on the SAVE America Act.

A McLaughlin & Associates survey of 333 likely North Carolina general election voters conducted April 6-9 paints a sobering picture: the Republican base in North Carolina is motivated, engaged, and fully prepared to stay home if the Senate fails to act on election integrity legislation that has already passed the House.

Among North Carolina Republican voters, 12.1% said they would be less likely to vote if Senate Republicans fail to pass the Save America Act. Another 12.3% said they weren’t sure whether they’d show up. North Carolina showed the highest “less likely to vote” response among general election voters of any state surveyed at 8.6% — a signal that even beyond the Republican base, the state’s electorate takes Senate inaction seriously.

Perhaps most damaging for Republican candidates: 47.6% of all North Carolina voters said they would be less likely to support a senator who voted against the SAVE America Act. That is the highest anti-opposition number of any state in the poll — and it means that in North Carolina, voting against this bill doesn’t just depress your base. It actively costs you votes across the broader electorate.

Making matters worse for North Carolina Republicans, their own senior senator is part of the problem. Sen. Thom Tillis has emerged as one of the most vocal Republican opponents of the SAVE America Act in the Senate; a position that puts him directly at odds with the 92.8% of North Carolina voters who believe only U.S. citizens should vote in federal elections and the 54.7% who want the Senate to pass the bill outright.

North Carolina is one of the most politically competitive states in the country, having voted for Donald Trump by 3.3 points in 2024 while simultaneously electing Democratic Governor Josh Stein.

The poll confirms that. 92.8% of North Carolina respondents agreed that only U.S. citizens should vote in federal elections. 71.6% said proof of citizenship should be required to register to vote. And 60% called photo ID a reasonable requirement, with only 35.2% calling it an unfair barrier.

North Carolina Republican voters are not interested in political theater. When asked whether they preferred a symbolic vote or a genuine Senate floor fight, 87.4% of Republican voters chose the real fight, including doing away with the filibuster, which democrats expressed they are likely to do the next time they are in power. Only seven percent accepted symbolic action.

North Carolina’s Republican base voted in massive numbers in 2024, helping deliver the state for Trump and electing Jeff Jackson as Attorney General by the narrowest of margins — a reminder of just how close these races run. Depressing that same base by 12% through Senate inaction on the SAVE America Act hurts Republican candidates down ballot.

(RELATED: Gov. Stein Demands Pay Raises While Doing Nothing To Break The Two-Year Legislative Stalemate He Helped Create)

(RELATED: System Failing Iryna Zarutska: Charlotte Light Rail Murder Suspect Dodges Trial On Mental Health Grounds As Family Waits For Justice)

(RELATED: Secretary Mullin Visits Chimney Rock, Announces Millions In New Flood Relief For Hurricane Helene Victims)

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein doesn’t have the votes to pass a budget. He has no concrete plan to break a two-year stalemate that has left teachers without raises and Medicaid on the brink.

Stein appeared Monday at the North Carolina Education Innovation Lab’s annual meeting in Cary, delivering a polished speech about teacher pay and education funding while offering nothing new in the way of actually moving a budget through the Republican-controlled legislature that has the sole authority to pass one.

“Public education is not a Democratic policy,” Stein told the crowd. “Public education is not a Republican policy. It is a North Carolina policy.”

It’s a fine line — but lines don’t pay teachers. Budgets do. And North Carolina hasn’t had one in over two years.

Stein’s proposed spending plan calls for nearly a 6% average raise for teachers, restoration of master’s degree pay supplements, increased compensation for experienced educators, raises for state employees, and a major infusion of cash into Medicaid — which covers roughly one-third of North Carolinians and is rapidly approaching a funding cliff.

The total price tag: $1.4 billion.

What Stein hasn’t explained is how he plans to get any of it passed. The North Carolina Senate holds a Republican supermajority. The House is Republican-controlled. Neither chamber has shown any interest in rubber-stamping a Democratic governor’s spending blueprint — and Stein has offered no serious public strategy for bridging the gap between his wish list and legislative reality.

North Carolina ranks 43rd in the country in teacher pay, with an average salary of $58,292 — nearly $14,000 below the national average of $72,030 and behind every neighboring state including South Carolina (36th) and Tennessee (38th). Teachers deserve better. That much is indisputable.

But Stein’s repeated public appearances lamenting teacher pay while failing to demonstrate any meaningful progress toward an actual budget deal raises a legitimate question: is this governance, or is it campaigning?

A governor who genuinely prioritized teacher raises would be spending less time at annual meetings and more time in closed-door negotiations with Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall — the two men who actually control the outcome. There is no public evidence that those conversations are happening with any urgency.

The legislature’s two-year deadlock centers on a dispute over scheduled income tax cuts — a policy disagreement between Republican chambers that Stein has little direct power to resolve. But rather than using his platform to push both sides toward compromise, Stein has largely used it to propose more spending, which does nothing to address the core impasse and may actually harden Republican resistance.

Meanwhile, Medicaid funding is running out. Teachers are leaving for better-paying jobs across state lines. Rural districts are making cuts. And the governor is at a conference in Cary talking about cell phone bans.

(RELATED: System Failing Iryna Zarutska: Charlotte Light Rail Murder Suspect Dodges Trial On Mental Health Grounds As Family Waits For Justice)

(RELATED: Secretary Mullin Visits Chimney Rock, Announces Millions In New Flood Relief For Hurricane Helene Victims)