Former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running for the Senate in battleground North Carolina.

Cooper announced his candidacy on Monday morning in the open-seat race to succeed Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who announced late last month that he wouldn’t run for re-election in the 2026 midterm elections. 

«I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina,» Cooper said in a social media post.

Cooper’s campaign launch is seen as a major coup for the Democratic Party, as he was the party’s top recruit in next year’s elections, bolstering their chances of flipping a key GOP-held seat as they try to take a big bite out of the Republicans’ 53-47 Senate majority.

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His announcement was expected, as numerous news organizations, including Fox News, recently reported that the former governor would launch a campaign in the coming days.

And this past weekend, at the North Carolina Democrats «Unity Dinner,» Cooper teased his run during his speech.

He grabbed cheers when he asked people to stand up if they were running for office in 2026 and said, «Hey, I’m not sitting down, am I.»

Ahead of his launch, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, targeted Cooper in a digital ad.

«Roy Cooper is a Democrat lapdog who spent his time as Governor sabotaging President Trump, doing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ bidding, releasing violent illegal aliens into North Carolina streets, and championing radical transgender ideology,» National Republican Senatorial Commitee communications director Joanna Rodriguez charged in a statement Monday morning.

While Cooper isn’t the only Democrat to announce their candidacy – former one-term Rep. Wiley Nickel launched a campaign in April – he will instantly be considered the clear front-runner for the party’s nomination in North Carolina.

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Cooper, who was a popular governor during his eight years steering North Carolina, was floated last year as a possible running mate for then-Vice President Kamala Harris after she succeeded then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee. 

Cooper is likely to face off in next year’s general election with Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Whatley, in what would be one of the most competitive, bruising, and expensive Senate battles of 2026.

Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley is interviewed by Fox News Digital, at the RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )

President Donald Trump, who is the ultimate kingmaker in GOP politics and whose endorsements in Republican primaries are extremely powerful, on Thursday gave Whatley his «Complete and Total Endorsement.»

«Mike would make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina. He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC,» Trump added, in a social media post.

And NRSC chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina called Whatley «a strong America First conservative who will be a champion for North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

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Scott noted that «the Tar Heel State has supported President Trump in all three of his elections and elected Republicans to both its U.S. Senate seats for over a decade. With Michael as our candidate, we will win it again in 2026!»

Trump called Tillis’ announcement last month that he wouldn’t seek a third six-year term in the Senate «great news.»

Tillis is a GOP critic of the president, and Trump torched the senator last month for not supporting his so-called «big, beautiful» spending and tax cut bill.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced in late June that he wouldn’t seek re-election in the 2026 midterm elections. (Getty Images)

Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a North Carolina native who served last year alongside Whatley as an RNC co-chair, was considered to be Trump’s top choice to run for Tillis’ seat.

But in a statement on Thursday, Lara Trump said «after much consideration and heartfelt discussions with my family, friends, and supporters, I have decided not to pursue the United States Senate seat in North Carolina at this time.»

Whatley, who served as chair of the North Carolina GOP before being elected last year as RNC chair, said recently in a Fox News Digital interview that the Senate showdown in the Tar Heel State is «going to be one of the marquee races in the country.»

The Trump administration is set to boycott a high-level summit on Palestinian statehood, co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, scheduled to take place at United Nations headquarters in New York City on Monday.

The event was originally planned for June with French President Emmanuel Macron in attendance but was postponed due to the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Representatives from more than 50 nations are expected to speak at the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, with dozens of additional countries listed as participants.

Reuters reported last month that a U.S. diplomatic cable had urged governments to skip the «counterproductive» U.N. event, which Washington described as an obstacle to efforts to end the war in Gaza.

«The fact that the French and the Saudis could not be dissuaded from manufacturing this latest stumbling block to peace is a finger in the eye to President Trump,» Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital. 

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«American taxpayers are paying a quarter of the costs of this U.N. monstrosity, warmongers dressed up as peaceniks. Why are we still footing U.N. bills?»

Bayefsky added, «This latest U.N. confab embodies the rejectionist culture: shove a Palestinian state down Israel’s throat, without negotiations, and without Palestinian acceptance of the Jewish state. It arrogantly appropriates the right to decide land ownership and who, what, where is legal and illegal.

«After October 7, and the reality that the Palestinian Authority serves as Hamas’s wingman on the international stage, it is painfully clear that an armed Palestinian state means more war, not peace,» she said.

Hamas terrorists take up positions ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP)

In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that «the prospect of a Palestinian state has never been so threatened—nor so necessary.»

«[It is] threatened by the destruction of the Gaza Strip, rampant Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank that undermines the very idea of territorial continuity, and the resignation of the international community,» he said.

«[It is] necessary, because expecting to achieve a lasting ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and its surrender without first outlining a political horizon is an illusion,» he added.

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot delivers a speech during the annual conference of French ambassadors at the International Conference Centre of the French Foreign Affairs ministry in Paris on Jan. 6, 2025. (LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

Monday’s event comes on the backdrop of Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state. The formal declaration would be made at the U.N. General Assembly in September. 

President Donald Trump immediately dismissed the move, arguing that Macron’s statement «doesn’t matter.»

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee mocked Paris’ decision in a series of social media posts. «How clever! If Macron can just ‘declare’ the existence of a state perhaps the U.K. can ‘declare’ France a British colony!» Huckabee wrote.

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Memorials at the site of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, Israel, on Monday, May 27, 2024. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In May, Huckabee told Fox News Digital, «If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I have a suggestion for them—carve out a piece of the French Riviera.»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement condemning Paris’ move «to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre.»

Key European nations have not yet backed Macron’s initiative, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stating on Saturday that recognizing a Palestinian state was premature.

«I am very much in favor of the State of Palestine, but I am not in favor of recognizing it prior to establishing it,» Meloni said. «If something that doesn’t exist is recognized on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn’t.»

A German government spokesperson said on Friday, «Israel’s security is of paramount importance,» and therefore Berlin «has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.»

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York. (Reuters)

In a video statement on Friday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is «working on a pathway to peace in the region focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those who are suffering in this war.»

By contrast, NATO member and U.S. ally Turkey welcomed the French move, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan congratulating Macron during a phone call between the two leaders.

Avi Pazner, former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy, told Fox News Digital that there is «no rational explanation» for Macron’s decision, as everyone understands that it is «not feasible.»

Pazner suggested that Macron may be attempting to gain credibility with France’s significant Muslim and Arab minorities, which some estimate to be between 8%- 10% of the country.

Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former negotiator at the State Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations, told Fox News Digital that Trump has his own set of objectives and sensibilities regarding the issue of Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds a leadership meeting in Ramallah, the West Bank, on April 23, 2025. (REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman)

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«It was the view of successive administrations that unilateral statehood would prejudge and undermine the conditions necessary for negotiations,» he added. «If France is recognizing a Palestinian state, within what borders? What happens to Jerusalem? What about the Jordan Valley? Would land swaps compensate for territory deemed essential by Israel for security? Declaring statehood prematurely prejudges the outcome of negotiations, and that was the position taken by these administrations.»

The French and Saudi-sponsored conference is expected to run through Tuesday.

En 1678, más de un siglo antes de las primeras expediciones británicas, francesas y rusas a la Antártida, Francisco Seyxas de Mondoñedo, de origen gallego, podría haber cartografiado parte del continente blanco.

Un reciente estudio de Felipe Debasa Navalpotro sostiene esta idea, cuestionando la cronología tradicional de los grandes descubrimientos y destacando la aportación española en la región polar. Según Muy Interesante, documentos y mapas inéditos respaldan esta hipótesis y podrían transformar la historia de la cartografía antártica y las reclamaciones de soberanía.

Nacido hacia 1647 en Galicia, Seyxas de Mondoñedo perteneció a una familia de hidalgos y tuvo una trayectoria excepcional por su amplitud y diversidad. Tras quedarse huérfano, fue educado por un tío en Ribadeo y, posteriormente, viajó a los Países Bajos, donde inició una vida dedicada a la navegación y el conocimiento científico.

A lo largo de su carrera, fue marino, comerciante, espía, gobernador, matemático y escritor, registrando sus experiencias en numerosas obras, muchas de ellas inéditas. Aunque prestó servicios como gobernador en la Nueva España y aspiró a ser cronista real, jamás obtuvo reconocimiento oficial.

Sus conflictos con el virrey Gaspar de la Cerda y Mendoza motivaron su exilio en Francia, donde pasó sus últimos años en la corte de Versalles. Dejó una producción intelectual de 14 libros, centrados en la navegación y la economía del Imperio español. Su figura representa un punto de referencia imprescindible para comprender el desarrollo geográfico en el siglo XVII.

El historiador Felipe Debasa Navalpotro propone que Seyxas fue el primer cartógrafo de la Antártida, apoyado en una investigación archivística exhaustiva y el análisis de manuscritos y mapas hasta ahora desconocidos.

Según Muy Interesante, en febrero de 1678 Seyxas navegó entre los 60 y 70 grados de latitud sur y describió “islas a la vista de la tierra austral”, identificadas con las actuales islas Elefante, Clarence y Joinville del archipiélago Shetland del Sur.

Entre sus escritos sobresale la Descripción geográphica y derrotero de la región austral magallánica (1690), que detalla rutas marítimas al sur de los 60 grados de latitud, anticipándose más de un siglo a las exploraciones británicas.

Uno de los hallazgos clave es el Atlas universal de la verdadera situación de las costas y puertos más principales del mundo, conservado en la Biblioteca del Congreso de Estados Unidos, donde Seyxas anota la existencia de islas al sur del estrecho de Magallanes, incluidas las “Yslas de Seyxas, año 1678”.

El nivel de detalle en la representación de montañas visibles desde el mar y las anotaciones sobre formaciones geográficas con coordenadas precisas refuerzan la hipótesis de un conocimiento directo del territorio antártico y no una simple especulación.

La investigación de Debasa Navalpotro amplía la línea iniciada por Gabriel de Castilla en 1603, a quien la historiografía chilena y argentina considera el primer navegante en avistar tierras antárticas. Fuentes holandesas recuperadas en el siglo XX sitúan estos relatos hispanos mucho antes de las exploraciones de James Cook o Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.

El testimonio de Seyxas, según Muy Interesante, proporciona mayor alcance y precisión a la cartografía española, datos que el Imperio mantuvo en secreto por su valor estratégico.

Si se confirman las referencias de Seyxas, los debates sobre la soberanía antártica podrían reabrirse. Sus mapas otorgarían prioridad a la presencia española, debilitando las reclamaciones británicas sobre ese territorio. El fortalecimiento de las posiciones históricas de Argentina y Chile frente al Reino Unido resulta relevante ante el refuerzo documental y analítico presentado recientemente.

Aunque nunca recibió reconocimiento oficial ni vio recompensadas sus aspiraciones de cronista real, Seyxas de Mondoñedo dejó un legado intelectual fundamental para la historia de la navegación y la cartografía. Muy Interesante subraya el valor de la investigación archivística y los nuevos análisis de sus mapas, que revalorizan el protagonismo español en la exploración del continente blanco.

La propuesta de que Seyxas fue el primer cartógrafo antártico en 1678 se apoya en documentos originales, mapas precisos y un estudio que desafía el relato tradicional de los descubrimientos polares. Si se confirman los hallazgos, será necesario reconocer el papel de un gallego adelantado a su tiempo, capaz de recorrer el mundo y trazar la geografía de lo desconocido.