Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is the third-best fundraiser of the 2026 U.S. Senate midterms, with roughly $35 million so far this cycle — more than three times the total of his opponent, Michael Whatley, who has brought in a little over $11 million.
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New finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday show Cooper’s campaign raised an additional $8 million from the beginning of April to the end of June, while Whatley’s campaign added close to $3 million. Both campaigns picked up the pace from their first-quarter fundraising numbers, which were nearly $6 million and about $2 million, respectively.
The filings reflect a growing fundraising gap facing the Whatley campaign that supporters hope will be offset by a rash of outside spending from groups aligned with Republicans, and from the national party itself, which under a new Supreme Court ruling has no limit on how much it can spend in any given race.
The fundraising gap allowed Cooper to get a head start in campaign messaging last month, spending millions on television and digital ads portraying the two-term Democratic governor as the right choice to fix cost-of-living issues facing North Carolinians.
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The Cooper campaign spent three times as much as Whatley in the second quarter of 2026, with close to $6 million in expenses against Whatley’s under $2 million. Across the entire campaign, Cooper has spent about $14 million while Whatley has spent around $8 million.
Despite the disparity in spending, Cooper’s cash balance remains far healthier than Whatley’s. Cooper reported more than $20 million available at the end of June, while Whatley reported just $3.5 million in the campaign’s reserves.
So far, outside groups backing Republicans are helping Whatley close the gap against Cooper. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting GOP candidates, has reserved $38 million in advertising this fall, according to a June report from AdImpact, while the Democratic aligned super PAC WinSenate has reserved $27 million. Ad reservations for both were second only to the Ohio Senate race.
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Polling and name recognition remain key obstacles for the Whatley campaign. All show him trailing Cooper — some by close margins, others by double digits — and about a third of the electorate is still unfamiliar with him only a few months before Election Day. To keep receiving such a large share of outside support, Whatley will need to show that he remains a viable candidate even after the race moved out of toss-up territory.
Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer said in a recent interview that fundraising numbers help to indicate voter support for a campaign.
“Typically, we tend to see voters go into their respective political corners by the time we reach the fall,” he said. “Money gives a good signal, so the fundraising at the various ends of the reporting periods will give us a sense of those things.”
Joint fundraising or “victory” committees for the candidates, which are typically split between the campaigns, their political parties, and party-wide Senate funds, reported nearly $12 million in donations for Cooper and about $3 million in donations for Whatley in the second quarter of 2026.
During the second quarter, Cooper’s campaign received nearly $5 million from his joint committee while Whatley’s campaign received close to $900,000 from his.
In a statement Tuesday, Cooper campaign manager Jeff Allen touted their grassroots fundraising strength — with 95% of donations that were $100 or less across the campaign fund and joint committee — on the back of an affordability message.
“Our campaign’s strong grassroots fundraising from folks who know Roy Cooper will put the people first is more important than ever now that the Supreme Court has allowed the RNC to spend virtually unlimited amounts to bail out their former Chairman Michael Whatley,” Allen said.
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Whatley’s campaign did not respond to NC Newsline’s request for comment.
