‘Wow. Just… wow’: Political scientist Chris Cooper on North Carolina’s historic 2026 midterms

Tectonic. Generational. A Blue-nami. A bloodbath. Just a few of the terms out there today as people in North Carolina, around the country — and around the world — try to make sense of what just happened in American politics.

North Carolina had arguably one of the biggest shifts in the country — our U.S. House delegation went from 4 Democrats and 10 Republicans to potentially 10 Democrats and 4 Republicans, depending on the fate of longtime Republican congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who is currently 99 votes behind her Democratic challenger Chuck Hubbard. This is in unofficial results with provisionals and military votes still to come.

The state House saw a similar flip. Democrats now appear to have a working supermajority, rather than a superminority, In the Senate, Republicans seem to have held onto a slim 26-24 majority – if Republican senator Danny Britt survives a likely recount in his very tight race.

And yet, voters also passed three constitutional amendments supported by Republicans.

NC Newsline Editor Laura Leslie sat down Wednesday with Western Carolina University political science Professor Chris Cooper, who’s been slicing and dicing the data behind the votes.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper.