Candidate Michael Whatley sure isn’t running away from Donald Trump | Opinion
Michael Whatley has officially entered the race for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, and he’s done so with Donald Trump’s full-throated endorsement.
So far, that connection to Trump is front and center in Whatley’s campaign. His campaign website features a large photo of him smiling alongside the president. Trump is featured almost as heavily in his announcement video as Whatley himself. In his campaign kickoff speech last week, Whatley mentioned Trump’s name more than he mentioned former Gov. Roy Cooper, his likely Democratic opponent.
Whatley doesn’t have to try hard to connect himself to Trump. As chairman of the Republican National Committee, he can easily be tied to Trump and Republicans in Washington, and Democrats likely would have tried to make that connection even if Whatley hadn’t himself. But he also can’t run away from Trump either — which may be a liability in a tricky midterm election that will likely be a referendum on Trump and his policies.
He also doesn’t really have a choice. Whatley’s position in the race, and in the Republican Party generally, would not be possible without his relationship to Trump. He almost certainly would have had to fought harder to be the GOP nominee if not for Trump’s endorsement. But other than being a staunch supporter of the president, it’s not quite clear what Whatley himself stands for at all.
Take his announcement video for example. The video opens by talking about the “great American comeback,” then cuts to a video of Whatley saying that Trump is “doing exactly what he campaigned on.” The words “North Carolina” and “Senate” aren’t even mentioned until nearly halfway through the minute-long video, and it’s immediately followed by a clip of Trump praising Whatley at one of his rallies, before mentioning Trump’s endorsement.
Cooper, meanwhile, has focused on opposing Trump’s agenda, albeit indirectly. Though his campaign announcement video didn’t mention Trump by name, Cooper has drawn a contrast between himself and Trump’s policies, particularly regarding health care and other issues that he thinks will hurt the middle class.
But Whatley hasn’t mentioned health care at all. In his campaign kickoff speech, he did mention Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” but he didn’t mention the parts that have received negative public attention, like cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. Instead, he’s framed his campaign around issues at the heart of Trump’s agenda, like immigration. Whatley’s announcement video mentions platitudes like getting North Carolina “back on track” to “help families make ends meet,” “create jobs” and “make our streets safe again.”
In a recent appearance on Fox News, Whatley offered his perspective on what will define the race.
“I think the biggest factor that we’re going to have in the midterm is, what is the environment going to be?” Whatley said. “What is the economy going to look like? What is our southern border going to look like? What is our standing in the world going to look like? And right now, President Trump is delivering every single day on every one of those issues.”
But that’s not what Cooper is going to try to make this race about. While Whatley will focus on Trump’s successes, Cooper will hone in on his failures. And that’s something that Whatley will have to answer for, because he can’t pick and choose when to associate himself with Trump. Avoiding the less popular parts of Trump’s agenda just won’t work. When Whatley is asked about them — and he almost certainly will be — he will have to have a response.
Cooper hasn’t mentioned Trump much, and he doesn’t have to, because Whatley has already brought him into this race. When Cooper says things like, “Politicians in D.C. are running up our debt, ripping away our health care, disrespecting our veterans, cutting help for the poor, and even putting Medicare and Social Security at risk,” people know who he’s talking about.
The political tides are already not in Whatley’s favor. Midterms are historically hard on the current president and his party, and they’re particularly difficult for candidates closely tied to those presidents. Trump may have won North Carolina a year ago, but his approval rating in the state has fallen since. Whatley’s closeness to Trump may generate enthusiasm among Republican voters, but it may drive Democratic and independent voters to the polls as well. Appeasing your own supporters without completely alienating everyone else is a fine line to walk in any election, let alone in a contentious midterm in which many voters are hungry for change.
Whatley, for his part, has also tried to tie Cooper to national Democrats like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. But the problem for Whatley is that none of those people are in power right now, and they’re not going to be the ones under scrutiny in 2026. For Whatley, running as the Trump candidate may have plenty of benefits, but it also comes with a lot of risks.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 1:41 PM.
