BAD PICK

Dems Flip Red State in Humiliating Blow to Trump

The president’s personal pick lost the GOP seat.

Donald Trump suffered a humiliating defeat in North Carolina, as the Republican operative he personally recruited lost in a landslide.

Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley resoundingly on Tuesday night, denying Republicans a crucial opportunity to defend the seat vacated by GOP Senator Thom Tillis.

In an unforced error by the president, Tillis announced last year that he would not seek another term after Trump threatened him with a primary challenge for opposing Trump’s massive tax and immigration bill.

Republicans had hoped Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman and a close Trump ally, could turn the contest into a referendum on the president’s political strength.

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But exit polls painted a dire picture for the GOP, showing widespread anger over cost of living pressures and Trump’s performance in general.

Trump personally recruited Whatley for the race after winning the 2024 election, crediting his work as RNC chair alongside his daughter-in-law Lara Trump for ensuring that Democrats “were never able to rig the election” that year.

“They don’t give him a break,” Trump complained last week, saying it wasn’t “fair” that Whatley wasn’t doing as well as Cooper.

“They have a governor who tries to pretend he’s a moderate and he’s not.”

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But in an early sign that things weren’t going well, the top super PAC for Senate Republicans canceled all the remaining ads it had booked in North Carolina at the start of October, shifting tens of millions of dollars to other battleground races.

Whatley also had baggage, such as his previous decision to elevate a convicted sex offender, Harvey Lee West, to a rule-making body within the state GOP.

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The Daily Beast also revealed that a Confederate flag was displayed front and center at one of his campaign events before someone hastily tried to scrub it from the record.

Cooper’s victory came shortly after the GOP suffered another major Senate loss, with Democrat star Jon Ossoff beating MAGA candidate Mike Collins in Georgia.

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Cooper is a two-term governor who entered the contest with a formidable political profile, having won statewide twice in a state Trump carried in 2024.

His victory marks a major breakthrough for Democrats, with Trump’s record-low unpopularity, broken promises, and the war in Iran foremost in voters’ minds.

“I have watched for the last two years as Congress has failed to do their job, so I came here with the intention of putting people in seats that will do their job,” North Carolina voter Matt Sheets told CNN as he cast his vote on Tuesday morning. “I absolutely voted for Roy Cooper.”

Exit poll results released Tuesday evening before polls closed painted a bleak picture for Republicans, with about 70 percent of voters saying they want Congress to do more to check Trump while about 60 percent blamed him for high prices.

The findings showed that three-quarters of voters were “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the country’s direction, while six in ten disapproved of the president’s performance.

“Tonight, North Carolina voters rejected another Trump loyalist and elected a proven leader who knows how to get things done,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French said after the vote.

“Roy Cooper will bring the same commitment to North Carolina families to the U.S. Senate that defined his time as governor.”

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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