This is Standard Republican Policy. Is This What You Want?
Forget the slogans. Judged by what they voted for, what they did, and what they refused to stop, this is what Republicans in Congress stand for, on 20 issues, with the receipts.
Articles about Michael Whatley
At Michael Whatley's Rally, Trump Told Camp Lejeune Families They'd Get Paid Only If Republicans Win: 'If We Don't Win, There's No Money.'
Campaigning for Michael Whatley in Greenville, Donald Trump said he'd settle the remaining claims from veterans and families poisoned by Camp Lejeune's water, but only if Republicans keep Congress. A woman who lost four relatives called it 'sickening.'
Four Republican Senate Candidates Wouldn't Say How They'd Stop Social Security's 22% Benefit Cut. Ashley Hinson Brought Up Millennials' Savings Habits.
States Newsroom asked Senate candidates in nine close races what they'd do about the automatic Social Security cut coming in 2032. Dan Sullivan, Roger Marshall, Michael Whatley and Jon Husted didn't respond. Ken Paxton, Mike Rogers and Ashley Hinson offered promises with no plan — weeks after Paxton was recorded telling lobbyists 'we have to suck it up' on spending cuts.
Michael Whatley Says Data Center Opposition 'Isn't Organic' and Backs Tax Breaks for Them. Executives at a Data Center Owner Gave Him $27,000.
People at KKR — co-owner of CyrusOne, which runs a data center campus in Research Triangle Park and is building another near Sanford — gave North Carolina's Republican Senate nominee $27,000, including $5,000 from co-founder Henry Kravis. Whatley says data centers should get tax breaks but not subsidies.
Michael Whatley Tells Trump to 'Stay the Course' in Iran. He Owns Up to $2.1 Million in the Oil and Defense Stocks the War Is Lifting.
North Carolina's Republican Senate nominee has cheered on the Iran war while it pushed up gas prices at home. His own disclosures show up to $1.6 million in oil and gas stock and nearly half a million in defense and aerospace — and he bought more Park Aerospace after the war began.
Michael Whatley Was Trump's Helene Recovery Czar. Records Requests to FEMA and 12 Counties Found No Sign He Contacted Them.
Records requests to FEMA, three North Carolina agencies and 12 western counties found no direct contact with Whatley at all. The one exception: six texts and 38 minutes of calls with a single state adviser, who kept asking him for help.
Michael Whatley Blamed Roy Cooper for a Murder Cooper's Prison Settlement Did Not Cause. It Is Not the First Time His Side Has Pinned a Killing on Cooper That the Records Do Not Support.
At a Trump rally in Gastonia, Whatley said North Carolina's early-release settlement put killers back on the street and blamed Cooper for Iryna Zarutska's death. PolitiFact and WRAL checked the prison records: the man charged was released five months before the settlement was signed.
Michael Whatley Says Health Premiums Rose 183% Under Roy Cooper. The Study That Number Comes From Starts Four Years Before Cooper Took Office.
Whatley keeps telling voters insurers 'raised insurance premiums 183%' on Cooper's watch. The figure comes from a 2021 Heritage Foundation table covering 2013 to 2019, and by that table's own numbers nearly half of the increase came before Cooper became governor in 2017.
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MAGA Republicans are faking their attack ads
Political ads have always been sleazy, but MAGA Republicans are no longer just stretching the truth: they are using AI and digital tools to manufacture lies.
Michael Whatley Is Running on Roy Cooper Being Soft on Crime. A Twice-Convicted Child Sex Offender Opened Whatley's Rally, and His Campaign Posted the Video.
A pastor who is a registered sex offender for life, twice imprisoned for crimes involving children, delivered the opening prayer at an August 28 Whatley campaign stop in New Bern. It is the second convicted child sex offender to become an issue in his campaign this year.
Republicans Running in 2026 Keep Manufacturing Their Opponents: A Doctored Flag, an AI Monologue, a Photoshopped Prison Uniform, and a Website Pretending to Be the Other Guy's
Greg Abbott's campaign used AI to swap an American flag for a transgender flag in a photo of his opponent talking to a child about a closed school. Ken Paxton scripted a speech his opponent never gave. Marsha Blackburn put hers in a prison jumpsuit. Cindy Hyde-Smith registered a domain in her opponent's name.
Michael Whatley Says Grocery, Gas and Housing Prices Are All Down and 'There Is No Inflation.' Groceries Cost 2.4% More at the End of 2025 Than at the Start.
Whatley's campaign told the Washington Post that 'prices were down considerably in 2025.' The government's own index says the opposite: overall prices rose 2.7% across 2025 and groceries rose 2.4%. Prices have gone up another 3% since.
The Super PAC Backing Michael Whatley Told a Grieving Father His Ad Was About Gun Violence. It Was an Attack Ad That Falsely Blames Roy Cooper for His Son's Murder.
Ronald Hayes agreed to talk about his murdered son because he was told the ad was about gun violence. It has been viewed more than 25 million times, as part of a $17 million campaign for Michael Whatley — and the claim at its center is not true.
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Prices are up. Twelve Republicans say that's your problem.
Everything costs more right now.
Twelve Republicans We Track Told Voters High Prices Aren't Really a Problem. One Said to Pick a Different Protein.
A NOTUS column collected what Republican candidates have been saying about the cost of living. Twelve of them have report cards on this site. Their answers range from 'earn more' to 'the Democrats invented this term affordability.'
Senate Republicans' Super PAC Runs a Fake North Carolina News Site. It Blamed Roy Cooper for a Murder That Happened in South Carolina.
The North Carolinian calls itself 'Independent Journalism for North Carolina.' Popular Information found it is fully controlled by the Senate Leadership Fund — and its unbylined August 21 article never mentions that the killing it describes happened in South Carolina.
Michael Whatley Spent $1.5 Million on an Ad About His Truck. His Campaign Committees Spent $136,000 on Private Jets.
Whatley's campaign committees paid $104,749.73 to fly a $1.9 million Cessna linked to a construction executive Trump pardoned for defrauding the government, plus $31,247.46 to a second jet company — while his ads showed him driving a GMC truck in a flannel shirt.
Michael Whatley Spent a Decade Lobbying for Oil and Gas. You Won't Find a Word of It on His Campaign Website.
Spectrum News reviewed 12 years of disclosures: Whatley's firm took $3.5 million, including $1.2 million from energy clients. His campaign bio skips the entire career.
Republicans Say They Warned Michael Whatley for Years About a Convicted Child Sex Offender in Their Ranks. He Kept Appointing Him.
A district chair wore a #MeToo shirt to a 2021 meeting to raise it. Whatley gaveled the meeting closed, she says — and reappointed Harvey West to the committee that writes the party's rules.
Michael Whatley and His Wife Own up to $445,000 in Duke Energy Stock. Duke Is Asking to Raise Your Power Bill.
Whatley and his wife hold between $163,000 and $445,000 in Duke Energy stock, per a November 2025 disclosure. Duke has spent the last year seeking a residential rate increase in North Carolina.
Trump Made Michael Whatley Helene's 'Recovery Czar.' On Tape, He Says He Told Trump to Get Rid of FEMA.
Asked at a Brunswick County event whether we can get rid of FEMA, Whatley answered: 'I've suggested the president do that.' At the time he was the White House's recovery czar for western North Carolina.
The Company That Poisoned Half a Million North Carolinians' Water Is Now Funding Michael Whatley. He Won't Say a Word About It.
Chemours' PAC gave Michael Whatley $5,000 — the first time it has ever spent in a North Carolina Senate race. WUNC asked him three questions about PFAS. His campaign didn't answer an email or a text.
Police Keep Getting Called on Reporters at Michael Whatley's Events — and He Won't Answer Questions
North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley has now had police called on reporters at two of his public campaign events and hides on friendly podcasts — anything to avoid answering questions.
Michael Whatley Defends the Jan. 6 Pardons — Even the Ones That Freed Child Sex Offenders
North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley calls the Jan. 6 prosecutions 'ridiculous persecution' and backs paying rioters — including pardon recipients later convicted of child sex crimes.