Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley will run for retiring Senator Thom Tillis’s seat in North Carolina in 2026 with President Trump’s support, according to multiple news reports, after the president’s daughter-in-law, former RNC co-chair and North Carolina native Lara Trump, opted against a run.
Whatley is likely to announce his bid in the coming days, according to Politico. He is expected to freeze the Republican field in what’s expected to be a competitive and expensive race against former two-term Governor Roy Cooper, who is expected to announce a Senate campaign soon.
Whatley also has extensive experience in Washington, having worked for former President Bush’s Florida recount team, as deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Energy, and as chief of staff for former North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole. Republicans believe that his work as RNC chairman and former North Carolina GOP chairman give him the fundraising experience and state relationships to be a strong candidate.
“He’s been a loyal soldier and he was the best of the available options,” a Republican in Trump’s orbit tells National Review. “Regardless, it’s going to be a tough race for him against Roy Cooper.”
In the weeks following Tillis’s retirement announcement, speculation had swirled in Washington and North Carolina about whether Lara Trump, who had considered a Senate run in there in 2022 and in Florida last year, would throw her hat in the ring this time around. But according to Politico, the current Florida has opted against a run and will continue her weekend Fox News show.
Senate Republicans’ 2026 campaign chief Tim Scott has met with Whatley about a potential bid and the National Republican Senatorial Committee has been floating his name since January, according to a GOP operative familiar with the matter. But beating Cooper, who has never lost a race and who has universal name recognition in the state, will be tough. Like Whatley, Cooper is expected to freeze his primary fields and the race is expected to attract millions in outside spending.
Republican operatives in the state expect that prospective candidate Pat Harrigan, a freshman Congressman representing the state’s 10th congressional district, will opt against a run now that Whatley has Trump’s support.
Republicans are expected to highlight Cooper’s vetoes as governor as well as the controversial commutations he ordered near the end of his second term.