Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley reported raising $5.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing his total fundraising to $11 million just five months into the campaign.

His team said the fourth-quarter haul is the largest reported this cycle by any nonincumbent Republican Senate candidate nationwide.

"I am incredibly grateful for each and every donation to my campaign," Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, wrote in an email statement shared with Newsmax.

"In the Senate, I will be a true America First partner to President Trump and deliver real results for North Carolina families."

Whatley is expected to face former Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper in the general election in a key Senate battle that could help determine control of the chamber in the final two years of Trump’s second administration.

The seat is being vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced he will not seek reelection after a summer 2025 call with Trump after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"The support for our campaign is a clear rebuke of Roy Cooper's liberal agenda," Whatley added in his statement.

"North Carolinians are tired of his soft-on-crime policies, his sanctuary city agenda, his failures on public safety, and his loyalty to Washington Democrats over the people of this state."

Despite Whatley's support from Trump, Cooper is already popular with the North Carolina electorate and has a 4.7-point lead in the current RealClearPolitics polling average, although those polls have not been conducted recently.

Cooper will reportedly also carry a larger war chest into the 2026 race, having raised $14.5 million in the third quarter alone, according to Politico.

Despite the polling and war chest gap, both The Center for Politics and The Cook Political Report consider the race a toss-up.

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