Democrats attack RNC chairman Michael Whatley’s entrance to NC’s Senate race
Democrats did not wait for Michael Whatley to officially announce his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Thursday afternoon to start their attacks on his record.
Whatley, 56, of Gastonia, is best known as the former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and current chairman of the Republican National Committee. On Thursday afternoon, he announced in Gastonia he would run for U.S. Senate — potentially setting up a general election contest against former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
“Michael Whatley is a D.C. insider and big oil lobbyist who supports policies that are ripping health care away from North Carolinians and raising costs for middle class families,” said Jeff Allen, Cooper’s campaign manager. “North Carolinians don’t need a lobbyist as their Senator, and voters will have a clear choice between Whatley’s long career as a Beltway insider against Roy Cooper’s record of putting partisanship aside to get results for North Carolina.”
But before he can take Cooper on in the general election, Whatley has to make it through a Republican primary on March 3. Also running on the Republican ticket are Andy Nilsson, a retired businessman; Don Brown, a former JAG officer; and Brooks Agnew, an author and engineer.
Whatley has the most name recognition among the four, and President Donald Trump’s “complete and total endorsement.”
Democrats held a news conference Thursday morning in Charlotte, set up a website to lay out Whatley’s record, launched an attack ad on that website and sent a news release to media.
North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton criticized Whatley in the news release for being a political operative, lobbyist and “hand-picked by Washington Republicans to serve billionaires and special interests.”
She also tied Whatley to former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who lost his election bid for governor in November after a political scandal linked him to racist and raunchy messages posted on a porn forum.
“Michael Whatley... will rip healthcare from families, raise costs, threaten women’s health care and put North Carolina jobs at risk,” Clayton said.
Clayton’s criticisms of Whatley included his record on abortion policy, layoffs within the Trump administration and increasing tariffs. She also criticized Whatley for embracing “election conspiracies.” Whatley helped echo Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Earlier Thursday morning, Rep. Beth Helfrich, a Democrat from Mecklenburg, spoke at a news conference marking the 60th anniversary Medicare and Medicaid and criticized Whatley for supporting cuts to the latter social safety net program.
Last month, Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, ended his reelection campaign and chose to retire after butting heads with Trump and Senate Republicans over potential cuts to Medicaid for 11.8 million people across the country, including more than 650,000 in North Carolina.
Cooper championed Medicaid expansion in North Carolina giving health care access to almost the same number of people that will lose it under U.S. Republicans’ recently passed law.
“In 2026, we have an opportunity to send Roy Cooper, a champion for everyday North Carolinians and Medicaid expansion to the United States Senate,” Helfrich said, during the news conference. “Meanwhile, Michael Whatley who is announcing his campaign just down the road today, has championed Medicaid cuts, calling them the ‘embodiment’ of his agenda and a ‘huge win.’ I see no win for the North Carolina I serve.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 3:33 PM.
