Earlier this month, former Congressman Wiley Nickel became the first Democrat to officially launch a campaign in North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race. He’s an attorney and former Barack Obama aide who represented Wake County in the state Senate before being elected to Congress in 2022 from one of the state’s only swing districts.
He joined the WUNC Politics Podcast this week to talk about how he plans to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, the prospects that former Gov. Roy Cooper could enter the race, and what he thinks Democrats should do differently to fight the Trump administration.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
You're launching your campaign nearly a year out from the primary. Why get such an early start into this?
"This is such an important race for our state. There are so few Senate seats that are truly competitive. This is one of them. After my experience with partisan gerrymandering that gerrymandered my seat out of existence, I like the fact that North Carolina is a state with boundaries that you can't gerrymander. We've got so much going on in Washington right now, this was no time to sit on the sidelines.
"I've always started early. It worked well for me when I got elected to Congress, flipping one of just six Republican seats from red to blue in the last Congress. When I got elected to the North Carolina state Senate, I got into that race very early as well.
"Politics is about passion. It's about getting out there and making your case to the voters, and the longer you have to do that, the better."
Why do you think you're going to be the best shot for Democrats to unseat Thom Tillis next year?
"Because I know how to win tough races. I've done it before, and I'm going to do it again. Back in 2022, I was one of just six Democrats to flip a Republican seat from red to blue. It was a simple message, a simple formula. We campaigned on economic issues. We talked to voters about the issues that they care about. That was what was able to get us to perform better than (Democratic U.S. Senate candidate) Cheri Beasley. We're going to continue with that same approach for the Senate seat."
Do you plan to stay in the race if former Gov. Roy Cooper ultimately decides to run?
"I have nothing but good things to say about former Gov. Roy Cooper. I worked closely with him when I was in the state Senate. He did a great job as governor, but right now, this is an urgent situation with what we're seeing in Washington. So for me, it was no time to sit on the sidelines. My focus just is Tillis, and any of these sorts of hypotheticals, those are bridges we cross if we get there."
How likely do you think it is that North Carolina could be the state that determines control the Senate next year?
"One thing is certain, there's no real math for Democrats getting control of the Senate without winning in North Carolina. If we can't do that, it's going to be virtually impossible. So North Carolina continues to play an incredibly pivotal role now for the U.S. Senate and for the White House. We are a true 50-50 state."
What do you think Democrats in Congress ought to be doing better in how they lead the opposition to what's coming out of the Trump administration?
"We need to hold Republicans, who are spineless cowards like Thom Tillis, accountable, and we need to be much tougher as a party. There's so much we're doing where we are just doing exactly the same thing we've done over and over, for years and years to stand up to Trump, and it didn't work.
"I called for Democrats to get watchdogs at every agency, appointing specific people to be our messenger, to be that watchdog, talking about the things we would do if we were in charge — but pushing back on the Trump administration, and we don't have that. So our message is just a mess. It's all over the place."
