Cooper took the seat. Control is not called.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Associated Press called North Carolina’s Senate race for Democrat Roy Cooper at 8:23 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. He defeated Michael Whatley. It was the first Democratic pickup of the night. The seat was open. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis did not run. Cooper is a former governor and state attorney general. Whatley, a former state and national Republican chairman, ran with President Trump’s support. At the call Cooper held a double-digit lead. He won the governorship by 0.2 points in 2016 and by 4.5 points in 2020. North Carolina had not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, AP reported before the vote. A call is not a certificate. The AP compiles the tallies and declares a winner. Official certification comes weeks later.

He told the room: “Thank you for everything you did to take this United States Senate seat back for the people of North Carolina.” He promised to be an “independent voice.” He said the campaign was about people crushed by Trump’s tariffs and by the cost of fuel and fertilizer “because of this never-ending war.” He said he had spoken with Whatley, and that Whatley acknowledged the result. Whatley is not in the photograph. The speech is on tape. CNBC Television carried it Tuesday night, and the same sentence is on that recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6NXbOvnHXA

Thank you for everything you did to take this United States Senate seat back for the people of North Carolina.

Control of neither chamber is called. After North Carolina, AP said Democrats need a net gain of three more Senate seats. The races still in front of them, on that wire, are Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship of Georgia, the first gubernatorial pickup for either party, and the first Black woman elected governor of any state. Byron Donalds was elected Florida’s first Black governor. Jon Ossoff was reelected to the Senate in Georgia, a hold. Chris Pappas won New Hampshire’s Senate race, also a hold. AP called it at 8:20 p.m. Eastern. This note does not print a House net. Two readings of the same AP live page, minutes apart, did not agree on whether the pickup was one seat or two. The Economist’s results summary, updated at 10:06 p.m. Eastern, said its sources were the Associated Press and its own model. This desk does not print that model’s board or its margins. The president was watching from the White House. The White House said he had gathered with political advisers and members of the Cabinet in the East Room. No sentence of his is in this note.

The photograph is Tuesday night, Nov. 3, in Raleigh. Matt Ramey made it for the AP. Cooper is waving. His mouth is open. A woman is partly behind the podium. She is not named. The crowd is not named. Whatley is not in the frame.