‘Everybody Wants to Avoid a Primary’: Democrats Wait on the Sidelines for Roy Cooper

The former governor is still undecided, but Democrats are beginning to game out who would run should Cooper decide against it.

Roy Cooper
Former governor Roy Cooper is still deciding whether he wants to run for Senate. Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

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 fifty-fifty, 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.)