Cooper, Whatley and other US Senate candidates on economy, inflation :: WRAL.com

The economy remains top-of-mind for voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, as inflation remains elevated and uncertainty over tariffs lingers. And to shore up confidence, President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address Tuesday to tout his economic policies.

“Our country is winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it,” Trump said. “People are asking me, ‘Please, please, please, Mr. President, we are winning too much, we can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in our country.’ ”

A new Ipsos poll this week, however, found the majority of Americans disapprove of the Republican president’s handling of the economy, and that nearly two-thirds disapprove specifically of his handling of inflation and tariffs. 

Federal data shows the nation’s gross domestic product, a common measure of the economy, grew 2.2% during the first year of Trump’s current term in office. That was lower than in every year of Democratic President Joe Biden’s tenure. 

Democrats are now seizing on cost-of-living issues as they attempt to woo undecided voters in this battleground state and beyond. 

“They’re making your life harder,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Tuesday in the Democratic Party’s response to Trump’s address. “They’re making your life more expensive.”

Candidates in North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate primaries are also keying in on the economy.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper is expected to launch a statewide tour focused on his plans to combat inflation, his campaign told WRAL ahead of an official announcement. 

“For too many, the middle class is a distant dream,” Cooper said in a written statement. “From groceries and rent to utilities and health care, stuff just costs too much for hardworking North Carolinians.”

Cooper is assuming he’ll win the Democratic primary; his tour is set to begin next Wednesday, the day after the election. But some of his other Democratic opponents are hoping their messages resonate better with voters.

Justin Dues, a former active-duty Marine from Concord running to Cooper’s left, said the U.S. needs to pass universal health care, break up monopolies and institute anti-corruption reforms and a $30 minimum wage by 2030, among other policies. He said it all would help cut down on personal debt and inflation while increasing people’s purchasing power, and could be paid for with higher taxes on billionaires.

“Affordability is the crisis of the generation,” Dues said. “Having worked multiple full-time jobs on top of each other for years, I continue to live the struggle.”

Michael Whatley, a Republican who has Trump’s endorsement for the GOP nomination, has for years made cost-of-living issues a central focus of the Republican Party, blaming high inflation on the Biden administration and promoting Trump as the best person to bring inflation under control. 

Inflation, however, remains at elevated levels under Trump.

Last month, inflation was up 2.4% from a year prior when Trump took office, above the target rate of 2%. That’s due in part to Trump’s tariffs that the Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional, due their lack of approval from Congress, but which Trump said he’d attempt to keep in place regardless. Whatley has supported the tariffs, which Trump says could eventually help bring more jobs to the U.S. by making foreign goods more expensive.

At a polling site in Gaston County last week, Whatley — who led the state GOP before running the Republican National Committee — said voters “want somebody who is going to fight for economic policies that will create jobs, that will raise wages, that will lower costs.”

Whatley wrote on social media during Trump’s speech Tuesday night that he will continue supporting Trump’s economic agenda if elected. “His vision made America stronger, freer, and more prosperous and it’s the vision I’ll fight for in the U.S. Senate,” Whatley wrote.

Thomas Johnson, who is also seeking the Republican nomination, said he has a multi-pronged plan for tackling affordability issues that includes energy independence, deregulation and cutting government spending which he blames for helping drive inflation higher.

“Washington’s reckless spending is the match that lit this inflation fire,” Johnson told WRAL. “I’ll vote against bloated spending bills and fight for a federal budget that lives within its means—less than 35% of annual GDP — because every dollar Congress wastes comes out of your family’s pocket.