Democrats' path to a Senate majority in the 2026 midterm elections runs through four Republican-held seats they must flip while defending every seat they currently hold. One contest that has drawn the party's optimism — and, according to Daily Beast reporter Laura Esposito, become a source of humiliation and embarrassment for President Donald Trump — is the U.S. Senate battle in North Carolina. A Democratic win in the Republican-held seat would count toward the four flips the party needs, which is why the contest carries outsized weight in the battle for chamber control.

Trump has thrown his support behind the GOP's U.S. Senate nominee, Michael Whatley, but according to some polls, Whatley is now trailing his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Roy Cooper, by double digits. Esposito emphasizes that Republican voters themselves appear deeply disappointed in Whatley despite the president's endorsement.

"Trump's backing appears to be doing little to sway key voters," Esposito writes. "During interviews with MS NOW's Jack Traylor, several North Carolina voters expressed a lack of interest in — and even disdain for — Whatley."

Among those voters is Fred Abromitis, a North Carolina resident who cast his ballot for Trump in 2024 and finds Whatley's campaign ads unconvincing.

"I think they're misleading, if not full of lies," Abromitis told MS NOW. "I don't like what he stands for; he says he's for lower taxes, (but) everybody can say that. But doing it is another thing."

In a state where recent statewide races have been decided by narrow margins, even modest defections among the president's 2024 voters carry added weight.

According to Esposito, the criticism "isn't the first time Whatley has been accused of being disingenuous." In May, she notes, the Daily Beast called out the "America First" Republican for spending more than $1,600 on campaign merchandise made in China. While it is not uncommon for merchandise to be produced cheaply overseas, Whatley has loudly advocated for bringing manufacturing back to the United States. In 2021, when Whatley was still chairman of the North Carolina GOP, he said that through Trump's "America first agenda," the Republican Party had been "tough on China," in a way that is "making sure that our economic policies are creating jobs for the working class Americans across the board."

Another North Carolina voter, a woman who spoke to MS NOW, said Whatley is making a mistake by running as a Trump ally at a time when the president's popularity is so low.

"I don't think it's wise, but he's still got a lot of people that are connected to him for reasons I don't really understand, when his approval ratings are going down," she told the outlet.

Esposito argues that Trump's recent visit to North Carolina shows how worried he is about Whatley's campaign. Trump has praised Whatley throughout his Senate run, calling him an "America First Patriot" who will "Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A." According to the Daily Beast reporter, Trump's trip to the state comes as Republicans brace for what they fear could be a big blue wave come November — a fear rooted in the long-standing pattern in which the party holding the White House has typically lost ground in midterm elections.

A New York Times poll published on Tuesday reinforced that concern, showing Democrats with a significant advantage over Republicans with less than 50 days until the midterms. According to the New York Times/Siena University survey, likely voters favored Democratic over Republican candidates for Congress by nearly nine percentage points. The survey measures the national congressional landscape rather than the North Carolina matchup itself, but the weeks ahead will show whether further polling confirms the double-digit deficit and whether Trump's visits can move a race that current surveys place in Cooper's favor.