Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley will formally launch his 2026 Senate campaign for retiring North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis’s seat on Thursday afternoon in Gastonia, N.C., people familiar with the matter tell National Review. The event is expected to kick off after 3 p.m.

Whatley, the former state GOP chairman with years of experience in Washington, D.C., has already secured President Trump’s endorsement in the primary ahead of what’s likely to be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate races of the 2026 midterms. WRAL News first reported his Thursday Senate launch plans.

North Carolina’s former two-term Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, formally launched his campaign earlier this week and is expected to be a formidable general election opponent. Cooper’s decades-long political career and universal name recognition in the state pressured the only other high-profile Democrat in the race, former Congressman Wiley Nickel, to suspend his campaign and endorse him instead.