(The Center Square) – Republican Michael Whatley will go through at least a three-candidate primary in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina.
Candidate filing for the 2026 midterms opened Monday at noon and the five-hour period included two lesser-known candidates from the Grand Old Party filing to succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. Whatley, endorsed by second-term Republican President Donald Trump, did not file the first day but is expected to on or before the Dec. 19 deadline.
Waxhaw Republican Don Brown and Smithfield Republican Elizabeth Temple were first to file.
No Democrats filed in a race that is expected to be former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s to lose. His lead over Whatley in early polling is climbing near 10%.
Durham Democrat Anita Earls, in Seat 1 of the North Carolina Supreme Court, filed for reelection. It is the lone seat on that bench up for election this cycle. Seats 1, 2 and 3 of the state Court of Appeals are on the statewide ballot and drew five filings.
For the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Republican Reps. Chuck Edwards (11th Congressional District) and Richard Hudson (9th Congressional District) are filed, as is incumbent Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee (4th Congressional District).
A state Senate primary attracting attention will include Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, challenged by Republican Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. The district encompasses Rockingham County, and most of Guilford County outside of Greensboro. Berger is in his 13th term and has been president pro tempore since Republicans gained a majority in the 2010 midterms.
March 3 is the Super Tuesday primaries, and Nov. 3 is the general election.
North Carolinians this year will choose a U.S. senator, all 14 U.S. House representatives, one state Supreme Court judge and three appellate justices. All 170 seats in the General Assembly – 50 in the Senate, 120 in the House of Representatives – are also on the ballot. There are no statewide referenda.
Only presidential cycle years have longer ballots for the more than 7.6 million voters in the nation’s ninth largest state.
