Team,

At the end of this message, I'm going to ask you to split a $20 donation between my Senate campaign here in North Carolina and the DNC. If you're ready to give now, you can use this link to donate.

Otherwise, please let me explain why your support is so important and what could happen without it.

In 2016, I ran for Governor for the first time.

I was fighting to unseat Republican Governor Pat McCrory. Nobody had defeated an incumbent Governor in North Carolina for over 150 years, but I knew that we had the team behind us to win and make history.

Throughout the race, multiple election experts were saying it was a "Toss Up." Poll after poll showed me with a slight - or sometimes even large - lead. The momentum was on our side.

However, on Election Night, the race was too close to call.

I ended that night with a less than 5,000-vote lead - which might sound like a lot but is a razor-thin margin in North Carolina, especially given the 4.6 million ballots cast. It was less than half of 1%.

Governor McCrory didn't concede. He claimed that there had been voter fraud in our state with no evidence to back it up.

He called for a recount, and over the next month, he and his team continued spreading baseless conspiracy theories and undermining faith in the democratic process.

Yet on Dec. 5, 2016, democracy won. The recount was wrapped up, and the results were in: We had won the race by 10,277 votes.

This current Senate race is starting to remind me a lot of my 2016 race.

Just like in 2016, the momentum today appears to be on our side.

Experts are calling this race a "Toss Up." Even though President Trump carried North Carolina each of the three times he ran. Even the experts are saying that this is the best chance for Democrats to flip a Republican-held seat in the country.

Here's what worries me…

We could have just as easily lost that race in 2016. Despite all of the winds blowing in our favor, we still only won by 10,277 votes - just 0.22%.

That's why we simply cannot take our foot off the gas. We cannot look at the polls and the predictions and think for a second that we have this in the bag. We cannot give our Republican opponent or the right-wing super PACs supporting him an inch.

I won in 2016 - in the same election that President Trump first won the presidency - only because of grassroots support from people like you. That's how I plan to win again, but I need you with me.

Please: Will you split a $20 donation, or whatever you can, between our campaign and the DNC before our end-of-quarter deadline to help us flip North Carolina blue and take back the Senate for Democrats?

If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your split contribution between Roy Cooper and the Democratic National Committee instantly:

Thank you for reading. I appreciate it.

Roy Cooper