Whatley is a former chair of the Republican National Committee and a close ally of President Donald Trump, Fox News reports.

“North Carolina — I’m grateful for your trust,” Cooper posted on X, Fox reports. “We have more in common than divides us.”

Cooper's win marked the first Senate seat to turn blue in this year's midterms, The Guardian reports. Fox calls it Cooper's seventh straight statewide win.

Cooper's campaign, called Make Stuff Cost Less, focused on lowering the cost of food, energy and housing, The Guardian says. He also pointed to his record on Medicaid expansion and teacher pay as governor, the paper reports.

Whatley and Republicans tried without success to tie Cooper to violent crime, particularly in Charlotte, The Guardian reports.

Cooper served as state attorney general and then two terms as governor, The Guardian says. He raised about three times as much money as Whatley and never trailed in a poll, the paper reports.

Cooper's win was his seventh straight statewide victory, after four elections for attorney general and two for governor, Fox reports. Top Republican-aligned outside groups pulled their spending from the race a month ago, Fox says.

The Senate Leadership Fund, which directs money from Republican Senate leader John Thune's fundraising, wrote Whatley off and moved its spending to the Kansas race, The Guardian reports. Republicans also faced national headwinds in races for Congress, the paper says.

What we know: Cooper defeated Whatley and flipped a Republican-held seat.
What we don't: The final vote margin. Early figures in the cited reports are unofficial.