Republicans appear to be "quietly quitting" on a deeply red swing state Senate race as a popular Democrat mounts a successful campaign and voters struggle to identify who his conservative opponent is, a political expert argued Saturday.
Chris Cooper, a political science professor with Western Carolina University, made this claim to The Bulwark's Sarah Longwell as the pair discussed the race between Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Watley.
"I asked some friends the other day, super smart people, generally engaged in politics, I said, 'You know who the Republican candidate is for U.S. Senate?'" the professor said. "They said, 'No, I have no idea. Who is it?'"
Cooper, the professor, noted Watley's campaign against Cooper, the candidate he described as a "Mr. Rogers" type, has been largely negative.
That's not doing his campaign any favors, the professor argued.
"There still hasn't been any sort of just general introductory kind of ads or statements or who he is, or where he's from," Cooper said.
"Unfortunately for Michael Watley, all these negative ads, they're just reinforcing things about Roy Cooper, right? Everyone is talking about Roy Cooper. No one is talking about Michael Watley."
Such campaign gaffes stand in stark contrast to the Democratic governor's senatorial campaign that has been running like a well-oiled machine, Cooper said.
"It's been incredibly successful," said Cooper. "He also just doesn't make mistakes."
This led Cooper to make a surprising prediction: Republicans might just quietly give up.
"What I'm curious to see is there's some quiet quitting," he said. "There's not going to be any grand announcement. They're not going to say, 'Gee, we're pulling out of this' because they need Watley to also help them down-ballot, even if he loses the race."