RNC Chair Michael Whatley to seek open Republican-held Senate seat in battleground North Carolina: sources

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley will run for the open GOP-held Senate seat in battleground North Carolina with the blessing of President Donald Trump, two sources familiar confirm to Fox News.

This, after the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, apparently decided not to seek the seat. 

The seat is currently held by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who announced late last month that he wouldn’t run for re-election in next year’s midterm elections. 

Whatley’s news, which was first reported by Politico Thursday morning, comes a day after Fox News confirmed that former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is expected to launch a Senate campaign in the North Carolina race. Cooper’s announcement could come as early as next week.

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The showdown in North Carolina is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate battles in the country. Cooper’s announcement could come as early as next week.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina met with Whatley to discuss the North Carolina race, a GOP operative told Fox News.

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The NRSC, since January, had been floating Whatley as a potential replacement for Tillis.

Whatley, a North Carolina native, served as the state’s GOP chair for five years before he was elected RNC chair last March.

Trump called Tillis’ announcement last month that he wouldn’t seek a third six-year term in the Senate “great news.”

Tillis is a GOP critic of the president, and Trump torched the senator last month for not supporting his so-called “big, beautiful” spending and tax cut bill.

With Tillis not seeking re-election, Trump is the kingmaker in selecting which Republican will be the party’s 2026 Senate nominee in North Carolina.

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“It’s the president’s choice. The president and his team will have those conversations,” a Republican operative, pointing to Trump’s immense sway over the GOP, told Fox News last month.

Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, who served last year alongside Whatley as an RNC co-chair, was at the top of the list.

Trump, who grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and attended undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University, is married to the president’s son, Eric.

She stepped down from her post at the RNC late last year and currently hosts “My View with Lara Trump” on the Fox News Channel.

But Trump apparently decided against seeking the Senate seat.

Asked in an interview last week with Fox News Digital about the open seat in North Carolina, Whatley said, “I feel very good that we’re going to be able to hold on to that seat. You know, we’ve been winning in that Senate seat down there for decades. The President has won that state three times in a row.”

“If Laura Trump decides to move forward, then I think the entire ecosystem would coalesce behind her, including myself, and if she’s not going to, then we will sit down with the President and figure out what the next steps are going to be,” he added.

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Whatley said the battle in North Carolina is “going to be the number one Senate race in the entire country, along with Georgia, just because of the number of media markets that we have, the spending that’s going to be there, the fact that you’ve got to hold the seat and you’ve got to pick up seat in Georgia.”

“We also going to have a tough race up in Maine. We’re going to have an opportunity to pick up a seat in Michigan. So, you know, there are going to be a number of key races, but that’s going to be one of the marquee races in the country,” he added.

Republicans currently control the Senate with a 53-47 majority.