North Carolina Senate Race 2026: Candidates, Key Dates and How to Vote

By
Harris
-
49

Key Points

  • Four candidates are on North Carolina’s U.S. Senate ballot, according to the State Board of Elections. In alphabetical order: Shannon W. Bray (Libertarian), Roy Cooper (Democrat), Michael Dublin (Green) and Michael Whatley (Republican).
  • The seat is open because Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is not seeking reelection.
  • In-person early voting ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
  • Results on election night are unofficial. County canvasses are set for Nov. 13 and the State Board canvass for Nov. 24.

Status as of 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 31. Candidate names, dates and voting rules come from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. No votes have been counted.

The North Carolina Senate race 2026 is an open-seat contest on the Nov. 3 ballot that could help determine party control of the U.S. Senate, WRAL reported. This guide lists the candidates exactly as they appear on the state’s official candidate list, the deadlines that remain, how to vote on Election Day and when results become official.

What happened

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is not running for reelection, leaving the seat open, according to reporting by WRAL and The Robesonian. The winner will serve a six-year term, the length listed for the contest in the State Board of Elections candidate file.

Who is on the ballot

The State Board of Elections 2026 general election candidate list for federal and state contests shows four candidates for U.S. Senate, listed here in alphabetical order:

  • Shannon W. Bray, Libertarian Party
  • Roy Cooper, Democratic Party
  • Michael Dublin, Green Party
  • Michael Whatley, Republican Party

Cooper, a Democrat, is a former governor of North Carolina. Whatley and Cooper both appeared on their party’s March 3, 2026, primary ballot, according to the State Board’s candidate file. The full list, with every federal, state and local contest, is posted on the board’s candidate lists page.

What else is on North Carolina ballots

According to the State Board, the 2026 general election ballot also includes all 14 U.S. House seats, one North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice seat, three Court of Appeals seats, statewide referenda, all 50 state Senate seats and all 120 state House seats. Each voter’s ballot depends on where they live, and local contests vary by county.

Latest development

The final day of in-person early voting is Saturday, Oct. 31. Early voting sites close at 3 p.m., and same-day registration, which is available during early voting, ends with it. Both campaigns made closing appeals to voters this week as early voting wound down, WRAL reported.

For voters who still have a mail ballot, the State Board says the ballot must be received by the county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3. Voters can drop it off at an early voting site in their county until 3 p.m. Oct. 31, or at their county board office until 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Voters who prefer can discard the mail ballot and vote in person instead.

What the polls show

Polls are snapshots, not forecasts, and LiveNewsWorld reports only surveys with published methods. The final Elon University Poll before Election Day, released Oct. 20, found Cooper at 52% and Whatley at 39% among likely voters, with 6% undecided and 3% choosing Bray, Dublin or someone else. Elon said the online survey was fielded by YouGov from Sept. 29 to Oct. 8, 2026, interviewing 1,038 North Carolina adults who were matched down to a sample of 800. It reported a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points for likely voters. The poll was taken more than three weeks before Election Day, and other surveys may differ.

Why it matters

Republicans hold 53 of the 100 Senate seats, so Democrats would need a net gain of four seats nationwide to win a majority, WRAL noted.

North Carolina often splits its votes. Donald Trump carried the state in all three of his presidential races, but voters also elected Cooper as governor in two of those same years, according to WRAL. A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate race in North Carolina since 2008, a point Cooper himself has made on the trail, ABC11 reported. LiveNewsWorld does not publish predictions or win probabilities for this race.

What happens next

How to vote on Election Day

  • Hours: Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Anyone in line at 7:30 p.m. can still vote.
  • Where: Election Day voters must go to their assigned polling place. The State Board says more than 2,600 polling places will be open. Voters can look up their polling place with the board’s Voter Search tool.
  • Photo ID: Voters will be asked to show photo ID when they check in. A voter who has an acceptable ID but forgot it can vote a provisional ballot and bring the ID to the county elections office by noon on Tuesday, Nov. 10. A voter who cannot show ID can still vote with a provisional ballot and a Photo ID Exception Form.
  • Registration: Registration is not available on Election Day for most people. The exception is people who became eligible after the Oct. 9 registration deadline, such as new citizens or people whose rights were restored.
  • Ballot photos: State law prohibits photographing or recording a voted ballot.

Military and overseas voters have different deadlines. The State Board’s upcoming election page lists all remaining dates.

When results become official

Unofficial results will appear on the State Board’s Election Results Dashboard after polls close at 7:30 p.m. In its reporters’ primer, the board says counting continues after Election Day. Eligible provisional ballots, cured absentee ballots and military and overseas ballots received by 5 p.m. Nov. 12 are added, and ineligible ballots are removed. County boards must hold their canvass meetings at 11 a.m. Nov. 13, and the State Board will certify statewide contests, including the Senate race, at its canvass on Nov. 24.

A candidate trailing in a statewide contest after the county canvass may request a recount if the margin is 0.5% of the votes cast or 10,000 votes, whichever is fewer. For contests under the State Board’s jurisdiction, the request must be received in writing by noon Tuesday, Nov. 17, the board says.

LiveNewsWorld will report North Carolina returns as counties post them and will name the outlet behind any race call. No winner will be reported before one is declared by a named source.

Related live coverage

Follow every contested seat on our US Senate elections 2026 results page, track returns on the 2026 midterm election live results page, find every guide in the US Midterm Elections 2026 hub, and get the latest Washington news on US Politics Live.

Sources