It’s tight, it’s early, and there’s a lot of undecided voters, but Dem former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper – who isn’t running yet – edges out incumbent Republican Senator Thom Tillis 46 to 44 percent in a head-to-head in a survey of Tar Heel state likely voters in a 2026 matchup tested by lefty organization Carolina Forward. Cooper holds a strong lead among indies at 57 to 27 percent with another 16 percent undecided while Republican voters are also 10 percent undecided – likely because Tillis is a “RINO” to them who occasionally engages in hollow acts of performative defiance against the MAGA Reich, the rest are Tillis 85 percent to Cooper 5 percent. Dem respondents meanwhile are just 1 percent undecided at 94 percent for Cooper and 5 percent for Tillis.

You can do far worse for a candidate than Cooper as he won two statewide elections handily and remains popular – both when convicted felon President Trump was on the same ballot and carried North Carolina. That said it’s fucking North Carolina and the douchebag ticket splitters in the state also reelected Tillis in 2020 along with Cooper – though maybe that Cal Cunningham dickhead would’ve won if he hadn’t been caught cheating on his wife weeks before Election Day. But speculating is pointless because Cooper simply has to run, he’s probably the only Dem who can flip the seat, either he runs and wins or doesn’t and that cocksucker Tillis gets another six years.