NEW: Trump’s Pick For Crucial Senate Race Emerges

President Donald Trump has given his blessing to a top Republican who is preparing to jump into North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, offering the party a lifeline to keep a seat that observers feared may slip out of reach after Democrats recruited a top-tier candidate of their own.

News of Trump’s pick will alter the party’s plans to shape the 2026 field, given Republicans are already eager to press their advantage. Just a handful of incumbents are vulnerable, while open seats in swing states are scarce.

One, however, is North Carolina’s seat, which is being vacated next year by outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who opted against reelection after bucking President Trump on several legislative battles that put him in Trump’s crosshairs.

Instead, the Republican National Committee is sending one of their own: Chairman Michael Whatley, who insiders say is laying the groundwork to launch a campaign in the near future.

Whatley already has strong name recognition in the state as the former chair of the North Carolina state Republican Party. He was tapped by Trump’s team last year to head up the RNC after then-candidate Trump lost faith in Ronna McDaniel to see the party through a successful 2024 cycle.

Whatley, by all measures, passed his test, raising record sums and assisting Republican candidates in winning the White House and both chambers in Congress. The success has continued in fundraising, where the RNC currently outpaces the Democratic National Committee by tens of millions of dollars.

Declining to run is Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a former co-chair of the RNC. Whatley, ever loyal, reportedly refrained from declaring his candidacy until Lara Trump indicated she would not seek the seat.

Sources said Lara Trump will fully back Whatley’s bid, and the two are expected to appear together in public with more updates about the race soon.

“The president feels Whatley has earned his shot,” one person familiar with plans told Politico.

Trump is expected to announce Whatley’s replacement after he kicks off his Senate campaign, which may be as soon as next month.

Democrats have pointed to North Carolina as a bright spot in an otherwise dim 2026 map. They’ve cited the recruitment of former Gov. Roy Cooper, an affable state leader who managed to receive bipartisan support in most polls through the end of his tenure this past January.

Trump knows that North Carolina will be “an uphill battle for any Republican,” the source said, but he acknowledges that Whatley has a better chance than almost anyone of stopping a Democratic juggernaut from taking a GOP seat out of the party’s column next year.