Democrat Roy Cooper has been projected to win a key Senate race in North Carolina, flipping a crucial seat previously held by Republican Thom Tillis, the BBC’s news partner CBS reports.

Cooper is projected to beat Republican opponent Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

It’s the first time the state will have elected a Democratic senator since 2008, in a major win for a party that is campaigning to win control of Congress from Republicans this midterm election.

Tillis announced his retirement from the Senate last year after falling out with President Donald Trump.

Before his Senate run, Cooper, 69, served as the governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025 and was previously the state’s attorney general.

His campaign focused on lowering the cost of food and groceries, healthcare, energy and utilities, childcare, and housing.

Whatley, who was hand-picked by Trump for the Senate seat, had vowed to enact the president’s agenda in the Senate, fight illegal immigration and roll back Democratic policies.

Tillis, North Carolina’s outgoing senator, chose not to run for a third six-year term after voting against the president’s domestic policy package – dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – in a break from his Republican Party.

After the vote, Trump criticised Tillis and threatened to support other candidates in his re-election bid, calling him “a talker and complainer”.

North Carolina’s other sitting senator, Ted Budd, who was elected to his first six-year Senate term in 2023, is also a Republican.