Former Gov. Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee, cruised to decisive primary wins in Wake County on Tuesday as voters also made decisions in key races for Congress, county offices and Raleigh City Council.

With all 216 Wake County precincts reporting, Cooper led the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate 94.32% of the vote in the county, 2% higher than the state’s total. Michael Whatley won the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Wake County with 67.62%, 3% higher than the state average. 

In the Republican primary for N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Seat 1, Michael Byrne received 63.90 of the Wake County vote. In the Democratic primary for N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Seat 3, Christine Marie Walczyk won 65.31% in the county.

In the closely watched and most expensive primary in North Carolina’s history for U.S. House District 4, incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee narrowly defeated Nida Allam by 1202 votes, although Allam led the part of the district that resides in Wake County by 822 votes. Allam has already called for a recount, given that the difference between the two is less than 1%.

Wiley Nickel, a former member of the House of Representatives, finished first in the Wake County district attorney election with 49.01% of the vote, followed by Sherita Walton with 30.45% and Melanie Shekita with 20.54%. The winner will become the Democratic nominee to succeed longtime District Attorney Lorrin Freeman in November.

At the county level, voters selected two Democratic nominees for the new at-large seats on the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Christine Kushner received 29.61% of the vote, and Mona Singh finished second with 21.86% in a seven-candidate field. Jonathan Lambert-Melton, an NC State alum who served in one of the two of the Raleigh City Council At-Large seats since 2019, lost with 18.01% of the vote.

Raleigh residents chose two candidates in the nonpartisan at-large City Council race. Incumbent Stormie Denise Forte led the six-person field with 32.73% of the vote, followed by Sana Siddiqui with 23.57%. 

In District C, incumbent City Council member Corey Branch finished first with 54.07% of the vote, avoiding a runoff and defeating his main challenger, Jared Ollison, who received 18.67%.

One of the most closely watched races in North Carolina on Tuesday was the Republican primary for N.C. Senate District 26, where longtime Senate leader Phil Berger trailed Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by just two votes, 13,077 to 13,075, as of late Tuesday night. The thin margin is expected to trigger a recount under state law.

All totals remain unofficial until canvassed by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

All of the data in this report was gathered from the North Carolina State Board of Elections database.

This is a developing story