The GOP’s loudest argument against Roy Cooper is a flat-out lie | Opinion
There are a lot of half-truths in politics. But in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, the GOP’s loudest argument against former Gov. Roy Cooper isn’t just misleading. It’s a flat-out lie.
The lie is this: Roy Cooper is somehow responsible for the murder of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee killed on Charlotte’s light rail last year.
This has been fact-checked many times by various news outlets. But Republican nominee Michael Whatley continues to say Cooper “has Iryna Zarutska’s blood on his hands” and insists that she was murdered “because of Roy Cooper.”
Whatley’s fellow Republicans still make similar accusations. Even President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Whatley, has repeated such claims. Their argument is that DeCarlos Brown, the man accused of murdering Zarutska, should have been in prison, and the fact that he wasn’t is Cooper’s fault. The evidence they point to is that Brown’s name appears on a list of prisoners released as part of a legal settlement over prison conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are the facts: DeCarlos Brown was released from prison in September 2020. He served his full sentence and was placed under post-release supervision for another year. The settlement in question was made five months later, in February 2021. Brown’s name does appear on the list, but he was already out of jail by then.
Some Republicans do concede the fact that Brown was released from prison months before the settlement was made. They then point to the fact that when Brown was arrested again in February 2021, he was ultimately allowed to continue under post-release supervision instead of returning to prison, despite the fact that another arrest could be seen as a “parole violation.” They allege that happened because of the settlement, even though the settlement was not made until 10 days later.
But even if the settlement did allow for his release, it still doesn’t connect Cooper to the death of Zarutska. Even if Brown had been required to finish out the rest of his sentence in prison, that sentence was up in September 2021. Zarutska was killed in August 2025. There is simply no scenario in which Brown could have remained in prison for four more years without committing and being convicted of a new, more serious crime.
Still, Republicans are desperate to pin this on Cooper. Despite years of running against him, they have yet to find any criticisms that will stick. Cooper is more popular than Whatley, has much better name recognition, and the current political environment isn’t particularly friendly for Republicans. They’re searching for anything that might give them the upper hand.
To be clear, Whatley’s campaign is far from the first to tiptoe outside of reality. Political campaigns often have a tricky relationship with the truth. They pounce on facts that work in their favor, and distort and manipulate those that don’t. But no amount of distortion or manipulation can make the Brown/Cooper tale true. It’s not just misleading — it’s demonstrably untrue from every angle.
Is there room to debate the merits of the settlement Cooper and his administration made in 2021? Absolutely. Some Republicans have been looking into the recidivism rate of released offenders, though that figure doesn’t appear to be substantially different from North Carolina’s overall recidivism rate. Others have said the settlement led to the release of inmates serving life sentences, but according to the state, all of them were already eligible for parole anyway.
But discussing all of that requires a level of nuance rarely captured in campaign ads, on debate stages or in social media posts. It requires acknowledging that the situation is not so black-and-white. Which is why, a lot of the time, it’s just easier to lie, and plow forward with the simplest argument even if it’s not the correct one. But it’s also lazy, and it’s wrong. Even the most fervent of Republican arguments won’t change that.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
