Democrats do not have a path to winning back the Senate without taking North Carolina, and they cannot win North Carolina without a massive war chest.

The good news for the party, in both respects, is that the battle for the seat is being fought by Roy Cooper.

Not only has the former governor never lost an election in his almost 40-year political career, but his campaign recently revealed it had broken fundraising records for a Senate race.

Just weeks after he formally began his run before the 2026 mid-terms, Mr Cooper has raised more than $14.5m: the largest ever single-quarter haul for a Senate seat challenger.

There is a reason why Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, lobbied for the 68-year-old to return to the political fray after his second term as governor expired last year.

Michael Whatley, the Republican challenger, has been decisively out-raised thus far, and some believe the GOP’s only chance to hang onto North Carolina is to saturate the state in outside money.

But barring the intervention of Elon Musk or another big-money Republican donor, the race is Mr Cooper’s to lose.