Republican North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley raised $5.1 million in the final quarter of 2025, adding to his campaign war chest for a likely matchup with former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in November’s midterm elections.
The fundraising report, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation, comes after Whatley reported a record-breaking $6 million haul in 2025’s third quarter, totaling $11 million in the first five months of the campaign. Whatley, former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman and close ally of President Donald Trump — who endorses his candidacy, is touting the fundraising numbers as evidence of his ability to keep pace with Cooper in what is expected to be the costliest Senate race in history.
“The support for our campaign is a clear rebuke of Roy Cooper’s liberal agenda,” Whatley said in a statement.
Whatley continued to blast Cooper over accusations the ex-governor supported lenient crime policies and “sanctuary” policies protecting criminal illegal migrants, the former RNC chief argues made the Tar Heel State less safe.
“North Carolinians are tired of his soft-on-crime policies, his sanctuary city agenda, and his failures on public safety and his loyalty to Washington Democrats over the people of this state,” Whatley said. “In the Senate, I will be a true America First partner to President Trump and deliver real results for North Carolina families.”
Whatley’s cycle-to-date total is still expected to lag behind Cooper, who raised $14.5 million in the third fundraising quarter, which ran from July to September. Of that fundraising total, $3.7 million was raised through a joint fundraising committee, which allows for larger contributions.
Cooper, the expected Democratic nominee, has not yet released fundraising numbers for 2025’s fourth quarter.
Whatley is expected to cruise to the general election with the backing of Trump, who remains broadly popular with GOP voters. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s political operation and the RNC have also gotten behind Whatley’s campaign and are expected to spend aggressively in the general election contest.
Still, Whatley is facing a crowded slate of candidates for the GOP nomination, including Michele Morrow, who ran a failed campaign to lead North Carolina’s public school system in 2024.
Whatley spoke at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December and is endorsed by the conservative group’s political arm. That month, Trump also gave the former RNC chief an early boost by praising his candidacy at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Whatley joined Republican leaders and fellow Senate hopefuls at the U.S.-Mexican border Friday to spotlight Republicans’ work to secure the border and fund Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Whatley’s team did not share a cash on hand number.
Democrats view Cooper, who won statewide in 2016 and 2020 when Trump carried the Tar Heel State at the federal level in both cycles, as one of their best 2026 recruits. If Democrats fail to flip the open seat vacated by retiring Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, the party would almost certainly be in the Senate minority for another two years.
Republicans argue a torrent of well-funded attacks ripping Cooper’s record as governor will complicate his path to the Senate.
Republicans also recently overtook Democrats in the number of registered voters in the battleground state, which could provide a structural advantage to Whatley during the midterms.
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