More than 400 people turned out Thursday at Bay 7 at American Tobacco Campus as Roy Cooper used a Durham campaign stop to center his U.S. Senate message on grocery, housing, utility, health care, and child care costs.
The former governor won last month's Democratic primary. Durham was the sixth stop on his statewide "Make Stuff Cost Less" tour.
He is running to replace retiring Sen. Thom Tillis and faces former Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley in November.
- Gov. Josh Stein joined Cooper in Durham, along with North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls, U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, N.C. Sen. Natalie Murdock, House Minority Leader Robert Reives, and Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead.
- Cooper said Washington could lower costs by stopping tariffs he said are driving up prices. He also tied higher gas prices to the war in Iran during his Durham remarks.
- Stein pointed to Cooper's record as governor, including Medicaid expansion and public safety, while making the case that affordability should define the race.
Whatley held his own Triangle event the same day, a Raleigh roundtable with members of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. He told reporters tax, regulatory, and trade policy would be central to his affordability message.
The two events turned Thursday into a same-day argument over which candidate could better speak to rising household costs. The Senate race will decide who takes Tillis' seat at the end of his term.