Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! As we await off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, the 2026 midterm campaign is well underway. Fundraising is humming along. The map is coming into view. And candidates are jumping in. One key matchup is set: Former Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, will battle RNC Chairman Michael Whatley for North Carolina’s open Senate seat. And the stakes are set high. “The decisions we make in the next election,” Cooper said in his July 28