Politics

Cooper rallies supporters during campaign stop downtown

Former N.C. Governor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper greets supporters during a campaign stop in downtown Hendersonville.

By Amy McCraw, Published: August 20, 2026

Former Gov. Roy Cooper during a campaign stop in downtown Hendersonville on Thursday promised to do more for working families if he is elected to the U.S. Senate in November.

“For too many North Carolina families, there is just too much month at the end of the money,” Cooper said to applause from about 200 supporters who gathered to hear him speak at Oklawaha Brewing Co. on First Avenue East. “So, we need people in Washington who are going to care about them and not the billionaires and corporations.”
“Make Stuff Cost Less” signs were plastered on a wall near the stage where Cooper spoke about the high cost of child care, health care and Hurricane Helene recovery in Western North Carolina.
Cooper also took on the Trump administration and his Republican opponent Michael Whatley in the closely watched contest for the U.S. Senate seat that became open when incumbent Thom Tillis announced his retirement.
“This president, reinforced by Michael Whatley my opponent, has said we’ve got to spend money on the Iran War and that we don’t have enough to spend on child care, which is so wrong,” Cooper said.
Cooper, who tops the list of Democratic candidates the party is counting on nationally to flip Republican-held Senate seats, told the crowd that provisions in the Big Beautiful bill that the president signed into law earlier this year will also lead to higher health care costs after the mid-term elections in November.
“With this one big betrayal bill that passed, it’s already sent health care premiums skyrocketing,” Cooper said. “It’s already taking health care away from so many people. But the Medicaid cuts don’t occur until after the election. So, you know so many people are going to be hurt unless we can change it.”
In his remarks to supporters and to reporters after the event, Cooper criticized Whatley’s job as the recovery czar for Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
The federal government turned its back on the region under Whatley, he said.
Whatley “has completely failed in his mission. In fact, you don’t hear him even talking about it anymore,” Cooper said in response to a question from the Lightning. “When the administration came through with their last budget request to Congress and all this request for the war and other things, there was zero money for Western North Carolina.”
The federal government has only funded 15 percent of what is needed in the region’s ongoing recovery, which includes needs for buyouts, roads, water systems and public buildings, he said.
“Michael Whatley promised a lot,” he said. “They delivered very little.”
Cooper said he wanted to work with Democrats and Republicans to secure more funding for Helene recovery.
In his remarks to supporters, Cooper criticized Whatley for what he said were Whatley’s ties to a convicted sex offender.
“This is somebody not tough on crime,” he said.
Cooper also responded to a reporter’s question about an advertisement in support of Whatley that links Cooper to a murder that occurred in South Carolina.
“These are tragedies that these groups are using for political purposes. This campaign is based on lies,” he said. “This ad is about a South Carolina man who was let out of a South Carolina jail, who committed a crime in South Carolina.”
Cooper said it was a lie to link him to the case before touting his record on crime as North Carolina’s attorney general and governor.