Earlier this month, former Congressman Wiley Nickel became the first Democrat to officially launch a campaign in North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race. He’s an attorney and former Barack Obama aide who represented Wake County in the state Senate before being elected to Congress in 2022 from one of the state’s only swing districts. He spoke with WUNC about how he plans to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, the prospects that former Gov. Roy Cooper could enter the race, and what he thinks Democrats should do differently to fight the Trump administration.