Republicans appear to be "quietly quitting" on a Senate race in a deeply red-leaning swing state as a popular Democrat runs a successful campaign and voters struggle to identify his conservative opponent, a political expert argued Saturday.

Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, made the claim to Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark as the two discussed the race between Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Watley. The contest is for the Senate seat held by Republican Thom Tillis, who announced he would not seek reelection, giving Democrats an opening in a state that has voted Republican in recent presidential elections but elects Democrats to statewide office with some regularity — a dynamic that helped elect Cooper governor twice. Watley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party who also served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, has never held elected office, making name recognition a central challenge for his first statewide run.

"I asked some friends the other day, super smart people, generally engaged in politics, I said, 'You know who the Republican candidate is for U.S. Senate?'" the professor said. "They said, 'No, I have no idea. Who is it?'"

Cooper, the professor, noted that Watley's campaign against Cooper — a candidate he described as a "Mr. Rogers" type — has been largely negative, and that this is not doing the Republican any favors.

"There still hasn't been any sort of just general introductory kind of ads or statements or who he is, or where he's from," Cooper said. "Unfortunately for Michael Watley, all these negative ads, they're just reinforcing things about Roy Cooper, right? Everyone is talking about Roy Cooper. No one is talking about Michael Watley."

Such campaign stumbles stand in stark contrast to the Democratic governor's Senate campaign, which Cooper said has been running like a well-oiled machine.

"It's been incredibly successful," Cooper said. "He also just doesn't make mistakes."

This led the professor to a prediction: Republicans might simply give up quietly.

"What I'm curious to see is there's some quiet quitting," he said. "There's not going to be any grand announcement. They're not going to say, 'Gee, we're pulling out of this' because they need Watley to also help them down-ballot, even if he loses the race." The down-ballot dynamic the professor referenced reflects North Carolina's narrowly divided electorate, which in recent cycles has split its votes across parties for president, governor, and other statewide offices — meaning a weakened Senate candidate can affect turnout for competitive races further down the ticket.