By GARY D. ROBERTSON, ERIK VERDUZCO and THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press

GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley launched his campaign for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat Thursday, equipped with President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a large fundraising network for a potential general election bid against formidable Democrat Roy Cooper.

A Whatley-Cooper contest is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive 2026 races. Speaking at an event held at an old textile mill near Charlotte, Whatley pledged his allegiance to the president, who will be a major focus for both sides in a swing state where Trump had one of his smallest margins of victory last year.

“I am proud to stand with him and fight every single day for every family in every community,” Whatley said. “President Trump deserves an ally and North Carolina deserves a strong conservative voice in the Senate. I will be that voice.”

Whatley led the state Republican Party for almost five years before being elected Republican National Committee chairman 17 months ago with Trump’s backing. He seeks to succeed GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, who barely a month ago announced that he would not run for a third term after clashing with Trump.

Whatley’s plan to run became public a week ago, after which Trump said on social media that Whatley would “make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina” and that he would have ”my Complete and Total Endorsement.” Whatley got in the race after Lara Trump — the president’s daughter-in-law, a former RNC co-chair with Whatley and a North Carolina native — passed on her own bid.

Democrats optimistic about Cooper, Whatley calls his views extreme

The Democratic side of the race took shape earlier this week as Cooper, a former two-term governor, announced Monday that he would run. The next day ex-U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel ended his campaign and endorsed Cooper.

Cooper’s entry brings optimism to a party aiming to take back the Senate in 2026 with a net gain of four seats — a tall task in a year when many Senate races are in states Trump won easily in 2024.

National Republican campaign strategists say that Cooper’s entry makes North Carolina a more difficult seat for the party to hold, though a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in usually competitive North Carolina since 2008.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott endorsed Whatley immediately. At least two lesser-known Republican candidates are seeking the GOP nomination. Candidate filing begins in December, with any primaries held in March.

But Whatley spent his launch speech targeting Cooper, accusing him of “offering North Carolina voters an extreme radical-left ideology — open borders, inflationary spending and a weak America.”

“I believe in a better North Carolina and a stronger America,” he added.

Whatley will leave RNC post

Trump, who narrowly won North Carolina’s electoral votes all three times that he ran for president, also supported Whatley to replace national party chair Ronna McDaniel early last year. Whatley joked in April to an Iowa audience that Trump was so pleased with his work as chair that he offered Whatley any job that he wanted in Trump’s administration, as long as he stayed on as chair.

But with his campaign bid, Whatley will leave the chairman’s post. RNC members are expected to vote on his successor next month in Atlanta. Trump has endorsed Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, a former Florida Republican Party chairman who is now the RNC’s treasurer and was co-chair of Trump’s 2016 campaign in Florida.

While never elected to government office and without a voting record, Whatley has promoted the president’s agenda and led the party apparatus that helped him get elected in 2024. So he’ll be asked repeatedly to defend a host of Trump initiatives.

Whatley, 56, grew up in the western North Carolina mountains. His first major foray into politics came in high school when he volunteered for the 1984 reelection campaign of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. He earned law and theology degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

Whatley was on a team of lawyers working on George W. Bush’s behalf to dispute the outcome of the 2000 presidential contest. He landed a job in Bush’s administration with the Department of Energy, followed by a two-year stint working for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole. He later lobbied for oil and gas companies.

Medicaid cuts will be an issue

Whatley spent time during Thursday’s speech highlighting what he considers Trump’s many accomplishments, including recent Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in the state and a remake of the Republican Party.

But Whatley also will have to defend portions of Trump’s new law that includes pulling back on Medicaid, which North Carolina officials say threatens expansion coverage for hundreds of thousands of people. It was Cooper who reached a bipartisan agreement with state Republicans in 2023 to offer Medicaid expansion.

Cooper’s campaign criticized Whatley as “a D.C. insider and big oil lobbyist who supports policies that are ripping health care away from North Carolinians and raising costs for middle class families.” In a news release, Cooper campaign manager Jeff Allen added that Cooper has a “record of putting partisanship aside to get results for North Carolina.”

At the close of his tenure as state chairman, Whatley highlighted his efforts to encourage early voting and protect “election integrity,” as well as online fundraising and volunteer training. He cited electoral victories for Republicans on North Carolina’s appeals courts and within the General Assembly. But Democrats continued to control the governor’s mansion, as Cooper won a second term in 2020.

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Robertson reported from Raleigh, N.C., Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.