WHAT(ley) ???
Given what we found on X last night, we were expecting much different news than what we got hit with.
THAT is congressman Pat Harrigan and his wife visiting The White House. Had they met with Trump about the Senate run? Had Trump extended his blessing upon a Harrigan Senate campaign? I could find nothing clarifying these pics or the ‘thank you’ from Mrs. Harrigan.
Yet, we woke today to be greeted with the news that, of all people, Michael Whatley — who can most pleasantly be described as an unaccomplished schlub — will be running for the US Senate from North Carolina in 2026. I had heard whispers about this, but couldn’t accept it as serious.
Whatley has been a paid political hack and a lobbyist. That resumé makes Ted’s gun shop and firing range look a lot more admirable.
It’s always a red-flag when someone steps forward from the ranks of state party HQ or the RNC. Both of those entities have been hostile to conservatives and conservatism for longer than I’ve been alive. Barry Goldwater fought them. Ronald Reagan fought them. Jesse Helms fought them. All three of those guys were key to convincing Eastern North Carolina that it was okay to step across the aisle, vote Republican, and make the state competitive again. Charlotte’s uptown crowd didn’t pull that off.
I’ll say it again — SOMEBODY is giving President Trump horrible advice about North Carolina. Much of that advice seems to benefit immensely the public-private partnership / cabal running the show in Raleigh.
Former RNC and NCGOP operative Chris LaCivita is apparently down in Texas trying to save RINO John Cornyn from a spirited primary challenge. Now, that team is trying to keep the Tillis legacy alive and well in our state.
Kinzinger-Cheney disease.
Like his hero Thom, Mike Whatley is not a conservative. Thom and Susan Tillis have mentored Whatley and encouraged his rise through the party ranks for years.
Whatley has lobbied for the solar subsidy boondoggle. He also passionately bad-mouthed the former J6 prisoners that ended up being pardoned by Trump. Followed right along in the footsteps of his hero Thom.
Also like Thom, Whatley has peddled the nonsense that North Carolina is a *purple state.* That means most of us like leaders who float around somewhere between the Democrat platform and the Republican platform.
The original GOP majorities that took over in Raleigh were conservative. After the Tillis team got done with them, many had been run off and replaced with folks who were cool with spending, maybe, ten percent less than the Democrats want.
Believe it or not, people appreciate someone who speaks honestly and openly, and then does what he says he will once elected. THAT got Trump three victories in North Carolina. It also got Jesse Helms five statewide wins.
Election Integrity.
Unnamed DC sources claim Whatley “fought” for election integrity. What does that mean? *He made a statement one time?*
Whatley’s last reelection bid for state party chairman featured voting tabulation software that crash
ed spectacularly and produced highly-suspect results. (All while the rest of the country was calling for and / or using paper ballots.) The Whatley cabal shut down the complaints and calls for investigation. They moved forward as though nothing ever happened.
Somebody in DC has clearly been looking out for Mike Whatley. He was made general counsel of the Republican National Committee even though he had no law license.
Engineered THREE Trump victories in North Carolina.
That’s the worst piece of bull-crap I’ve heard in reference to Whatley and his proposed Senate campaign. Donald Trump would have won our state if Whatley moved to The North Pole for a year and the entire NCGOP staff in Raleigh took the year off and locked the doors.
This website has more name ID from Murphy to Manteo than Michael Whatley does. But I’m not demented and delusional enough to claim credit for three victories by Trump. That was all The Boss’s handiwork.
Fundraising.
It’s clear the DC / RNC crowd loves them some Mike Whatley. For the past several years, the NCGOP treasury has been padded with pass-through funds from the RNC and shakedown proceeds from our friends over in the General Assembly. If you factor out those two sources, fundraising for the state party during the Whatley era was really quite abysmal.
No bench.
For years, the state GOP has done a lousy job of cultivating potential candidates for statewide runs. North Carolina Democrats have three candidates standing by – Roy Cooper, Jeff Jackson, and Josh Stein – capable of running a serious, credible statewide race.
Who does the NCGOP have? No one. And you have the ruling clique, Mike Whatley, Robin Hayes, and current state chairman Jason Simmons to thank for that.
Cooper is stepping off the bench for what looks to be a very serious run. He, Jackson, and Stein all got to where th
ey are by taking little to no fire from the ruling NCGOP cabal. So, they are hardly damaged goods, and sitting quite pretty.
Trump will not be on the ballot. Whatley has only run smaller-scale, tightly controlled campaigns for party office.
The GOP nominee will be facing off against a guy with six prior – and successful – statewide runs under his belt.
Will Cooper face a worthy adversary in 2026?
If you want to read more about the US Senate candidate DC wants to burden us with, click here.
Let’s not forget who buried the 53 county censures of Thom Tillis.
Let’s not forget who appointed a then Burr staffer and now Tillis staffer to the Resolutions Committee against my wishes as the then NC11 District Chair, with the sole purpose of killing the censure from the floor.
Let’s not forget who completely buried the 2023 NCGOP State Convention resounding censure of Tillis.
NOT one press release! NOT one comment!
Let’s not forget who appointed a convicted sex offender to the NCGOP Plan of Organization committee multiple times!
Or that a hundred county organizations and state VC Miriam Chu were the real difference makers in the 2020 NC general election, while this DC time server fooled Trump into thinking he’s the reason.
Would we assume Lara has his ear?
Certainly know the ncgop does!
It’s NOT the first time Trump has made horrible decisions to support candidates. It’s NOT his strong suit.
If I’m not excited about Tillis, why would I be excited about Mr. Restless Leg Syndrome?
I can think of two, perhaps three present or former county chairs who despise Whatley for taking full credit for what was chiefly THEIR work in the 2020 election. I’m pretty sure they’ll never vote for this pretender, judging by their comments made to me at one time or another. I wonder if Trump has even looked to see how Whatley polls in NC before blindly jumping in with an endorsement.
Michael Whatley committed a major act of political malpractice as RNC chairman that should preclude him as a credible candidate. That was being asleep at the switch on the presidential debates, thus letting Team Biden dictate how they were set up. That allowed Team Biden to schedule that ultra-early test debate in time to replace him if they had to. Without that early debate, the Democrats would have been stuck with Biden in November as the first debate would have been on a normal schedule after both conventions. If the Democrats were stuck with an obvious out-of-it Biden, Republicans would have cleaned house up and down the ballot. The reason that did not happen was because Michael Whatley was asleep at the switch on organizing debates. Whatley’s incompetence on debates also saddled us with even more partisan hack Democrat “moderators” than those annointed by the old Presidential Debate Commission which were bad enough.
Whatley’s predecessor, Ronna Romney McDaniel was awful as RNC chair, but about the only good thing she did was getting RNC to withdraw from the Democrat-tilting Presidential Debate Commission. However, once that was done, it required follow-up from RNC to directly negotiate debates with the DNC. This is where Whatley incompetently failed to engage, leaving an opening for Team Biden to seize effective control of the debates.
This major screw up by Whatley should be remembered by Republican activists and should not be rewarded with higher office.