After rough 2025 elections, top GOP hopeful says conservatism’s future runs through sound economic message
All 100 of North Carolina’s counties are on the schedule for Michael Whatley, who is running for an open Senate seat as the GOP looks to course-correct after losses in 2025.
Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, is facing former Gov. Roy Cooper in a bid to succeed Sen. Thom Tillis, a two-term Republican who decided not to run for re-election.
Whatley joined President Donald Trump in Rocky Mount on Friday night, just before he flew to Phoenix to speak at AmericaFest. Republicans are also looking to flip the state’s First Congressional District, which currently includes the noted Interstate 95 waypoint.
Whatley said the reception both at the rally and across the state has been “absolutely fantastic,” and that it is important for any candidate to travel to every corner of an expansive, diverse state like North Carolina.
“The conservative movement is very, very strong, and we’ve got a lot of champions right now, especially when you compare us to what the Democrats are doing,” he said.
“You know, we won when we focused on the issues that the American people cared about, right? President Trump said he was going to rebuild our economy, restore our borders, and make sure America is respected again around the world.”
“The Democrats ran exactly the opposite: Inflationary spending, open borders, and a weak America. So we feel very good about where we are as a conservative movement. And we feel very good about our ability to win these elections as long as we’re going to be focused on what the voters care about.”
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Asked about Republicans coming up short in key races this past November, Whatley said his response will be to remain focused on issues that people in the Tarheel State care about.
“We’ve got an agenda that is focused on creating jobs and raising wages and lowering prices. We need to focus on keeping our kids and our communities safe,” he said.
“And we need to make sure that our men and women in uniform based in North Carolina around the country have what they need to protect our interests and allies around the world.”
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Whatley was also a proponent of ICE’s Operation Charlotte’s Web, which targeted criminal illegal aliens in and around Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
He told Fox News Digital that the immigration issue is key to keeping America’s communities safe.
Democratic border policy, Whatley said, has turned even North Carolina into a border state – despite its farthest west town, Murphy, being 1,300 miles from Mexico.
“We have many, many violent criminal illegal aliens in North Carolina. Many of them get arrested We had legislation that was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly to require sheriffs to honor the ICE detainers and move those criminals out,” he said.
“I’m very glad that President Trump was there to make sure that we’re getting these types of violent criminal illegal aliens off of the streets.”
Fox News’ Olivia Palumbo contributed to this report.
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