Whatley, Cooper trade barbs over release of prisoners as early voting kicks off in Senate race

Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley are seeking their parties’ nomination for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat. The way they talked Thursday, though, one might think they’ve already won their primaries. 

Cooper and Whatley targeted each other as they cast ballots on the first day of in-person early voting in North Carolina. Cooper is seen as the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic primary. Whatley, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, faces a crowded Republican field. The GOP field includes Michele Morrow, who won the Republican primary for state school superintendent before losing to Democrat Mo Green in 2024. Don Brown, a Waxhaw lawyer, is also seeking the GOP nomination. 

Rather than focus on his Republican opponents Thursday, Whatley took aim at Cooper. Cooper took some shots of his own. 

“The number one focus for any government — whether it's a state government, local government or federal government — needs to be protecting its citizens. And Roy Cooper was an abject failure on that,” Whatley said outside of a Gaston County polling site. 

Whatley then criticized Cooper for agreeing to release 3,500 prisoners as part of a legal settlement in February 2021. Civil rights groups sued the Cooper administration in April 2020, alleging that the state’s correctional facilities weren’t adequately reducing COVID-19 infection risk among inmates. The Cooper administration disputed that allegation in court, then agreed to a settlement after a North Carolina Superior Court judge ruled that the civil rights groups were likely to win their case.

Cooper, who cast his ballot at an early-voting site in Raleigh, said: “I'm the candidate, the only candidate in this race who spent a career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”

Cooper also pointed out that the Trump administration also released thousands of prisoners early during the pandemic. Cooper’s campaign cited a 2024 Department of Justice report showing that more than 13,000 inmates were moved from prison to home confinement as part of the 2020 stimulus package, also known as the CARES Act.

“What the prison officials and law enforcement officials did was take the lead from President Trump,” Cooper said.

The race to replace retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is expected to be one of the most expensive in the nation. Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to take back control of the chamber — a tall order for the 2026 elections. The North Carolina seat will get considerable attention because most other battleground states don't have a seat up for grabs.

Cooper is seen as a formidable candidate. The former two-term governor and state attorney general has never lost a statewide election and is a prolific fundraiser. He managed to win elections in years when Trump won the state. 

Republican Party leaders are hoping a well-known candidate such as Whatley can carry their standard against Cooper. A western North Carolina native, Whatley led the North Carolina Republican Party for five years before taking over the Republican National Committee ahead of the 2024 elections.