With one exception, Democrats have lost every single U.S. Senate race in North Carolina this century, their quests in recent years rocked by controversy and difficult political climates. This year, they are betting two things will make it different: The candidate is Roy Cooper, the southern state’s former governor, and the economy, where voter anger could imperil the party in power.

Months out from Election Day, Cooper’s Senate campaign is centering his message on economic anxiety. In his first television ad of the cycle — details of which were first reported by MS NOW — Cooper weaves his personal story with the kitchen-table concerns preoccupying voters.

“I’m running for the Senate to make life easier today,” Cooper says in the spot, which his campaign says is part of a seven-figure ad buy. “To go after insurance companies ripping you off. To make sure you can retire with dignity. And to build an economy that finally values working people.” 

The North Carolina race is primed to be one of the most important contests of this fall’s midterms as he attempts to flip control of one of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 2008. The recruitment of Cooper — a two-term governor who was elected both times while Trump carried the state in the same election cycle — has buoyed the party’s hopes. 

This is also a contest in which Trump’s influence is clearly a factor. The president has thrown his support behind former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, pitting a candidate with deep ties to Trump against Cooper, who has long demonstrated an ability to win in the state despite national political headwinds.

SHELBY, N.C. — A former North Carolina police officer caught on a doorbell camera repeatedly punching a woman in the face was charged Monday with assault.

The video of Shelby Officer Karson Hyder pummeling Cherrie Moore on Friday has circulated widely on social media.

Hyder, 22, turned himself in to the Cleveland County Detention Center Monday morning and was released on a $10,000 secured bond. Court records do not list an attorney for him, and a phone number associated with his name was out of service.

Hyder, who was suspended Friday and fired on Saturday, was responding to a breaking-and-entering call when the scuffle ensued.

According to a warrant, Moore, 34, fled the residence on foot and resisted arrest, assaulting Hyder by “grabbing and ripping (his) uniform.”

A separate warrant filed Monday alleged Hyder “unlawfully and willfully did assault and strike Cherrie Moore” by grabbing Moore “by the arm, pushing her to the ground and striking her in the face with a closed fist, thereby inflicting serious injury possible broken nose and busted lip.”

The State Bureau of Investigation had announced Saturday it had opened an investigation into Hyder.

Moore was initially charged with breaking and entering, resisting arrest and assault on a public officer, but the latter two charges have since been dismissed. She was freed on an unsecured bond. A phone number associated with Moore was disconnected.

Her attorney, Ronald Haynes, told The Associated Press in an email that Moore “is recovering and receiving treatment for her mental health.”

“The heinous actions of former Officer Karson Hyder will forever negatively impact Ms. Cherrie Moore and her family,” Haynes continued. “It’s a small relief that city officials responded so promptly to terminate and charge Mr. Hyder.”

DOBSON, N.C. — Investigators in North Carolina used a drone to find and arrest a man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a Virginia sheriff’s deputy who was conducting a welfare check, authorities said.

The suspect, identified as Michael Puckett, was found with a gun on Sunday night, two days after the shooting, as he was ringing the doorbell of a home several miles away from the Virginia state line. He was arrested in North Carolina’s Surry County and was booked without bond, the state’s bureau of investigation said in a news release. Multiple law enforcement agencies took part in the search.

Puckett, 55, faced an extradition hearing Monday in North Carolina. He did not have an attorney listed, a court clerk said. It was not immediately known where Puckett was from.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said the fatal shooting occurred after law enforcement received a request from a family member to do a welfare check on Friday.

A man at the home began shooting, and the two sheriff’s deputies who had responded returned fire, the sheriff’s office said. Both deputies were hit.

Carroll County Sheriff Kevin Kemp said Deputy Logan Utt was killed. The second deputy, who was struck in his ballistic vest, was recovering at home and was in good condition, Kemp said at a news conference Sunday night.

Other people were in the home at the time. They were not hurt, Kemp said.

Utt, 31, was a military veteran who joined the department in 2023. A funeral procession was scheduled Monday afternoon from Roanoke, Virginia, to a funeral home in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

“He had a servant’s heart. He cared for others, he cared for his country, he cared for his family,” Kemp said.