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Candidates › North Carolina U.S. Senate race › 2025–2026
Roy Cooper
D Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, North Carolina
Has not served in Congress
- On the ballot
- On the general election ballotNov 3, 2026 · North Carolina US Senate
- Where to vote
- Find your polling place (opens in a new tab) · More ways to vote
- Top priorities
- Lowering the Cost of Food & Groceries
- Making Health Care Affordable
- Lowering Energy & Utility Costs
- Making Child Care Affordable
- Lowering Housing Costs
- Money
- $49.6M raised, $40.5M spent, $9.1M cash on hand (through Oct 14, 2026). Where it comes from
- Who gives
- 33% of individual money from donors at $200 or less · 51% from North Carolina · largest committee giver DSCC, $62K
- Outside groups
- $3.3M supporting, $12.5M opposing Cooper
- Polling
- 52.4% in the latest poll (Quantus Insights) · leads Michael Whatley by 11.6 points on average. The polls
5 priorities from roycooper.com, in the order they are listed there. Every heading and the text under it is copied exactly, as one passage for each page it is from, and links to that place on the page; hover a source to see which passage it opens.
Make Stuff Cost Less ↗ (opens roycooper.com/costless at this heading)
The cost of food and groceries is skyrocketing in North Carolina and across the country. While farmers are getting crushed by tariffs and families are seeing prices rise at grocery stores and restaurants, big corporations and Washington DC insiders are doing all they can to squeeze every penny out of their customers. Roy Cooper is running for U.S. Senate to make stuff cost less, starting with the price of food and groceries.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless
Lowering the Cost of Food and Groceries ↗ (opens roycooper.com/costless/groceries at this heading)
Roy Cooper is running to make food and groceries cost less. He knows that DC’s chaotic tariffs are hurting our farmers and driving up the cost of food before it even gets to our grocery stores and restaurants (Fortune, April 2026), and that big corporate mergers and pricing algorithms make it harder to afford the basics.
- Support Our Farmers and Stop Chaotic Tariffs: Tariffs drive up costs on farmers who have to pass the costs along to restaurants, groceries stores and hardworking North Carolinians (FOX8, May 2026).
- Block Anti-Competitive Mergers: Strengthen antitrust enforcement in grocery retail and food processing to block corporate mergers that reduce competition and raise prices.
- Ban algorithms on grocery pricing to make it illegal for companies to raise the price of groceries based on a specific customer.
- Make it illegal for food producers to reduce competition to increase prices using digital tools to collude: Stop companies from using algorithms to coordinate prices and supply information to drive up the cost.
What is Roy Cooper’s plan to lower grocery prices?
Roy Cooper has a four-point plan to lower grocery prices. First, he would put an end to the chaotic tariffs that have driven up costs for farmers, who have to pass it on to you, the customer. Second, he’d block the mergers of grocery giants that reduce competition and raise prices. Third, he’d ban the algorithms used to raise prices on specific customers. And fourth, he’d make it illegal for big food producers to coordinate prices and supply information to drive up prices.
What would Roy Cooper do to support our farmers?
The administration’s chaotic tariffs are wreaking havoc on farmers, who can barely get by because their costs are being driven up (CBS 17, March 2026). Roy would put an end to these tariffs, and make sure that farmers who keep our state moving can thrive.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless/groceries
Heading as listed on roycooper.com/costless ↗ (opens roycooper.com/costless at this heading)
Health care costs are spiraling out of control for North Carolina families. Insurance companies are blindsiding working people with surprise bills and denied claims and forcing them to pay more for plans that cover less. Meanwhile, attacks on health care coming out of Washington are spiking premium costs and threatening to take health care away from working families.
As Governor, Roy Cooper was able to bring Democrats and Republicans together to make real progress on health care, expanding Medicaid and helping hundreds of thousands of working North Carolinians get access to health insurance. He will take that same common sense bipartisanship to Washington to make health care cost less the way he’s done his entire career.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless
Roy Cooper would lower health care costs by making sure that doctors make decisions about your health care, not insurance companies. Roy will work to reverse the Affordable Care Act tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid that have driven up health care costs for everyone; and put patient care first at hospitals. He’d also cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, and require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make medicines more affordable.
- Let doctors decide about health care, not insurance bureaucrats. End insurance company runarounds by allowing doctors to make coverage decisions, and reform insurance company reviews that result in denial of coverage for what a doctor says you need.
- Reverse cuts that leave people without health insurance or unable to afford the coverage they have. North Carolina saw the largest drop of any state in Affordable Care Act enrollment. Reinstate the ACA tax credits and reverse Medicaid cuts. This will help lower costs for everyone’s premiums, including people who get their health insurance through an employer.
- Require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make more prescription medicines affordable.
- Put patient care first at hospitals. Strengthen oversight of harmful hospital mergers and takeovers that put profits over patients.
- Crack down on pharmacy benefit managers and their middlemen who put small town pharmacists out of business and pocket savings instead of passing them along to patients.
- Curb surprise billing. Cap out-of-network charges for non-emergency care so that staying out-of-network isn’t a business strategy for health care companies, and designate emergency ground ambulance services as an essential health benefit—98% of emergency transport is unprotected (Health Cost Institute, December 2024).
- Cap annual prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for consumers.
- Prevent medical debt by mandating hospitals auto-enroll in charity care, lowering drug and medical costs for all.
- Increase enforcement on upfront pricing to make health care costs transparent. Consumers should be able to shop around for the cost of common procedures and tests.
What is Roy Cooper’s plan to lower the cost of health care?
Roy Cooper believes that doctors should decide your health care, not insurance companies and he’d reverse the Affordable Care Act tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid that leave people without the coverage they need and drive up prices for everyone. He’d also require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make prescriptions more affordable and strengthen oversight of hospital mergers that put profits over patients. He’d crack down on pharmacy benefit managers that pocket savings instead of passing them on to patients, curb surprise billing and cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. He’d prevent medical debt by requiring hospitals to auto-enroll patients in charity care and increase enforcement of upfront pricing to make health care costs more transparent.
Where does Roy Cooper stand on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid?
Roy believes that the ACA (or Obamacare) tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid should be reversed to get people the coverage they need and wants to lower premiums for everyone, including those who get their health insurance through their employer.
What would Roy Cooper do about my medical bills and prescription drug prices?
Roy believes that Medicare should broaden negotiations with drug makers to make prescriptions more affordable, and cap annual costs for out-of-pocket prescriptions. He would crack down on pharmacy middlemen who pocket savings instead of passing them on, and cap out-of-network charges for non-emergency care.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless/health-care
Heading as listed on roycooper.com/costless ↗ (opens roycooper.com/costless at this heading)
Roy Cooper knows that North Carolina families are being squeezed by energy costs that are climbing higher and higher each year. Electricity bills in North Carolina have risen 22 percent since 2020 (WRAL, February 2026) with further increases on the horizon. Roy will work to deliver common-sense solutions that cut costs, hold utility companies including Duke Energy accountable and protect families from being ripped off.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless
Roy Cooper would lower energy and utility costs by ensuring that corporations pay for their fair share of the energy they use instead of passing that cost onto you and modernizing our energy grid.
- Make sure data centers pay the full cost of all the power they use and prevent costs from being passed on to consumers.
- Reduce utility costs for consumers by working to encourage large tech companies to build their own energy sources.
- Ban utility companies from disconnecting power during dangerous heat and cold to keep families safe during periods of extreme weather.
- Modernize our energy grid to lower energy costs for consumers. Too much of our grid is old and inefficient. By modernizing parts of it we can increase reliability, create good-paying jobs and lower costs for families.
What is Roy Cooper’s plan to lower my energy bill?
Roy will work to make sure that data centers pay the full cost of the power they use without passing it on to you, and he’d ban utility companies from disconnecting power during dangerous heat or cold. Roy’s plan would lower energy costs by modernizing our energy grid and encouraging the tech companies to build their own energy sources.
Where does Roy Cooper stand on data centers?
Roy Cooper believes that data centers should pay the full cost of the energy they use, and prevent those costs from being passed on to locals. He also believes that local communities should be fully involved in any decision made about potential data centers in their neighborhoods.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless/energy
Heading as listed on roycooper.com/costless ↗ (opens roycooper.com/costless at this heading)
Lower the cost of child care for parents and caregivers, both those who work and those who stay at home.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless
Roy Cooper would lower the cost of child care by expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, putting money in the pockets of working families to help pay for their child care, ensuring we increase the number of qualified, quality child care providers, and making it easier for employers to help you afford child care, too.
- Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to support working families and put money back in people’s pockets.
- Grow and support the child care workforce. Increase the quality and supply of childcare by investing in apprenticeships for child care workers and paying better wages.
- Cut unnecessary red tape that keeps child care facilities expensive – like requiring they provide packaged food instead of preparing fresh fruit – while prioritizing child safety.
- Encourage employers to help employees with child care by providing employer tax credits for on-site child care or employee child care subsidies.
What is Roy Cooper’s plan on child care?
Roy plans to expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to put money back in the pockets of working families. He also supports growing the child care workforce, lowering the cost of child care by increasing the amount of quality care offered. He’d also cut unnecessary red tape that makes child care facilities more expensive, while encouraging companies to help their employees with child care by providing tax credits and other child care subsidies.
Does Roy Cooper have a plan to make child care more affordable?
Yes. Roy Cooper’s plan to make child care more affordable would help working families pay for child care directly through tax credits and increased employee benefits, and would help increase the number of affordable child care providers by investing in apprenticeships and cutting unnecessary red tape for child care facilities.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless/child-care
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Stop the bad actors driving up the price of housing for families across the state and make housing cost less for renters and homeowners.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless
Roy Cooper has a plan to lower the cost of housing by stopping the bad actors driving up the price for families, including by stopping big corporations and foreign companies from buying single-family homes and preventing companies that make rent-pricing software from using algorithms to drive up rent with landlords. He’d also make it easier to build more housing, driving down the cost for everyone.
- Support Building More Homes. Provide incentives for multi-family and modular construction to build more housing quickly and lower costs for families.
- Stop Big Corporations, Investment Funds and Foreign Companies from Buying Single-Family Homes. Restrict big corporate buyers from owning large portfolios of single-family homes that drive up prices for families trying to buy a home.
- Ban Algorithm-Driven Rent Setting. Companies like RealPage and Yardi collect real-time pricing data from landlords and use algorithms to recommend rent increases, with reports showing the practice increases rents between 5% and 12% (ProPublica, October 2022). Stop companies from using revenue-maximization software that allows landlords to raise the rent on tenants in coordination.
- End Tariffs Driving Up Prices for Building Materials. End the chaotic trade wars that have driven up the costs of construction materials like lumber, aluminum and steel, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of building a home.
- Eliminate Unnecessary Rules That Drive Up Housing Costs. Spur housing construction by streamlining rules, speeding reviews and converting commercial buildings to housing.
Does Roy Cooper have a plan to make housing cost less?
Yes. Roy Cooper’s plan would provide incentives to build more housing, lowering the overall cost of housing. It would stop big corporations, like investment funds and foreign companies, from buying single-family homes. He’d ban the algorithms from companies like RealPage and Yardi that use real-time data to increase rents. And he’d eliminate the unnecessary rules and red tape that make it harder to build houses and drive up costs, and eliminate the tariffs that make building materials more expensive.
What’s Roy Cooper’s plan to make sure my rent doesn’t go up?
Roy Cooper’s plan would ban the algorithm-driven software used by landlords to increase your rent. He also supports incentives to build more housing, which would lower the cost of rent and homes for everyone.
Does Roy Cooper have a stance on corporate investors buying homes?
Yes. Roy Cooper supports banning corporate investors from buying single-family homes, ensuring that they can’t drive up prices for families.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · roycooper.com/costless/housing
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