President Donald Trump on Wednesday described Republican Michael Whatley as a fierce and loyal competitor who deserves to win North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat, while painting former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee in the race, as an extreme liberal who turned the state’s cities into “blood-soaked killing fields.”
"Sometimes I don't like him," Trump said of Whatley during an hour-long speech in Gastonia, the candidate’s hometown. "He's too aggressive. And he actually — you know, I'm looking at him, he looks like such a nice man — he's not really that nice. He's a very effective man. ... He's great in terms of representation, which is what we care about. That's the guy you want."
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Trump has known Whatley for years. Whatley helped run his campaigns in North Carolina and eventually became leader of the national Republican Party. The president’s visit was the latest effort to breathe new life into Whatley’s campaign for the seat, which is seen as critical to Republicans’ efforts to retain control of the Senate.
Whatley has consistently trailed Cooper in polls and in fundraising. A recent poll by Elon University found Cooper leading Whatley by 11 points among likely voters. Another poll from East Carolina University found Cooper up 8 points.
Cooper hasn’t lost a statewide race during about 40 years in public office, including gubernatorial victories in years when Trump carried the state. And when Cooper was governor, Trump appointed him to a panel focused on combatting drug addiction and the opioid crisis.
Ahead of the president’s arrival, Whatley said he welcomed Trump’s help on the campaign trail.
“He is fighting for the people of North Carolina,” Whatley told WRAL in an interview. “I am going to fight every single day for the people of this great state.”
Several hundred supporters had gathered hours ahead of Trump’s speech, for prayers and speeches given by other Republican politicians on the ballot this year, as well as U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Trump, Whatley and others spent the day touting Trump’s policies and criticizing Cooper — almost in equal measure, hoping to boost turnout among the Republican base and steer independents — who largely favor Cooper, according to recent polls — to Whatley’s corner.
Trump spoke briefly with reporters on the tarmac in Gastonia as he was arriving in town ahead of the rally, criticizing Cooper's handling of Hurricane Helene. "Roy Cooper, the former governor, was a disaster on crime and a disaster on all sorts of hazards," Trump said. "We had the hurricane, the big hurricane. Helene, I believe it was named. And he was horrible."
The federal government is typically responsible for most disaster recovery efforts, and under Trump the federal funding for Helene relief has slowed to a trickle, state officials have been saying for more than a year. Trump appeared to acknowledge the slow pace of funding from his administration Wednesday. “You're waiting for some additional funding,” he told the crowd. “I'm going to get that to you.”
Trump then said he wouldn't allow any of that money to be sent to North Carolina unless Whatley wins, but said he was joking. That prompted Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, to demand Trump follow through with the money.
"This is no way to respond to a tragic disaster, no way to run a country, no way to campaign for office," Stein wrote on social media. "Western North Carolinians have been working their tails off for the past two years to recover from Helene. It’s time for Washington to match their grit and fund our $10 billion request."
Whatley has tied himself closely to Trump in his bid for the Senate, promising to deliver votes for Trump's priorities if elected. Whatley recently spoke at the Republican National Committee's midterm convention alongside Trump, and he repeated much of the same messaging during Wednesday's speech, focused on transgender issues, immigration and crime.
Recent history has shown that a substantial number of Trump supporters don't come vote in midterm elections when Trump isn't personally on the ballot. Trump echoed those concerns Wednesday, telling the crowd: "Pretend I'm on the ticket. Because essentially, I am. We've got to win this election."
Libertarian Shannon Bray and Green Party candidate Michael Dublin are also running for the seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who isn’t seeking reelection.
Crime and safety
Trump and Whatley each repeated disproven claims about Cooper's record, including a debunked claim about whether Cooper released a man from prison who would later be arrested for murder in Charlotte. As Whatley railed against Cooper, the crowd chanted: "Lock him up!"
Cooper's campaign told WRAL in response: "Michael Whatley is getting desperate and it’s shameful that he’s using heinous crimes to try to deceive North Carolinians."
Trump directly compared the tactics of tying Cooper to that case with an infamous ad from the 1988 presidential election called the "Willie Horton" ad. The ad focused on a Black man who killed a white woman, and it blamed the Democratic presidential candidate that year, Michael Dukakis, for her death.
Trump said that 1988 ad is the inspiration for the 2026 GOP ads trying Cooper to DeCarlos Brown, who's charged with murder in the stabbing death of killing Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte. Cooper didn't let Brown out of prison, but Trump and Whatley say he did.
"Willie Horton was a bad guy, really bad guy," Trump said. "Same thing as this. Same as this. Same exact thing. ... [Dukakis] lost the election the last time because of that one advertisement. They put it on, just like I'm putting this on, because we have to make sure that Michael Whatley gets into office."
Cooper's campaign said that Whatley is the one with ties to criminals, both when Whatley ran the North Carolina Republican Party and more recently on the campaign trail. The campaign was referring to Harvey West Jr., a Republican operative and convicted sex offender who Whatley allowed to serve on positions within the NCGOP during his tenure as state party chairman, as well as a pastor convicted of crimes against children who introduced Whatley at a recent campaign event.
"Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws as governor," Cooper's campaign wrote. "Michael Whatley has continued to knowingly appoint, campaign with and elevate convicted child sex predators who spent time in prison."
Whatley also said if Cooper is elected, Cooper would help the Democratic Party lead a socialist takeover of America.
"They want to bring socialism back," Whatley said. "They want Christians to be under assault. They want your families to be under assault."
That was in reference to Cooper refusing this month to sign a pledge denouncing the left-wing group Democratic Socialists of America. Cooper's campaign on Wednesday cited a Fox News article about that, which noted he hasn't been endorsed by the DSA but also wouldn't rule out working with the group.
His campaign told Fox News at the time that "Roy is not a socialist, and he will work with anyone, including Republicans, as he has done his entire career."
Inflation and Iran
Trump’s declining favorability in national and state polls has the potential to negatively affect candidates endorsed by Trump, recent polls show. Whatley and other Republican candidates have associated themselves closely with Trump and his agenda. Many of Trump’s hallmark policies, such as tariffs and the war in Iran, have contributed to rising prices for consumer goods, groceries and gas.
Trump acknowledged high gas prices in Wednesday's speech but said it was a cost he sees as necessary to wage war on Iran. A Whatley spokesman told WRAL last week that Whatley supports the war.
"I had a choice," Trump said Wednesday. "I could have sat back and endured it, or I could have done what's the right thing for, I see, these young children in the audience. If they had a nuclear weapon, it would be a very bad thing."
Cooper has previously slammed Trump for his handling of the war. "The price of most everything is going up because of this war that seems to be endless, without a strategy to end it," said Cooper, who has made affordability — one of the top issues for North Carolina voters — the cornerstone of his campaign.
“Republicans, Democrats, unaffiliated, they know something's wrong,” Cooper said last week at a campaign stop in Goldsboro. “They know we need a course correction. There are so many people looking up at the middle class, thinking, ‘I'm never going to get there. Is the American dream dead?’”
For months, polls have shown Cooper with a consistent lead over Whatley. A recent poll by Elon University found Cooper up on Whatley by 11% of the vote; another from East Carolina University found Cooper up 8%. A New York Times tracker of dozens of polls on the race show none has ever found Whatley in the lead.
Whatley told WRAL Wednesday he’s not concerned about Trump’s approval ratings. “President Trump has carried this state three different times because he’s fighting for a strong nation,” Whatley said. “He’s fighting for a strong economy, he’s fighting for strong borders and safe kids, and he’s fighting to make sure America’s the strongest, most respected nation again around the world.”
Democrats on Wednesday argued that Whatley can’t be trusted to fight for consumer interests — particularly at the gas pump.
State Sen. Woodson Bradley, D-Mecklenburg, stood with Whatley critics outside a Circle K gas station in Gastonia Wednesday and criticized the Republican nominee for supporting a Trump foreign policy agenda that has contributed to higher gas prices across the nation. Cooper has called for ending the war in Iran.
Bradley alleged that Whatley isn’t motivated to pursue lower gas prices because he holds stocks in energy companies and previously worked as a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. Whatley’s net worth is between $3.35 million and $10.44 million, much of it held in stocks of individual companies, largely in the energy industry, according to candidate financial disclosure forms.
“So if he’s advocating for policies that benefit his bottom line as a candidate, imagine how he could abuse that seat in the United States Senate, just to enrich himself at our expense and off of hardworking peoples’ backs,” Bradley said, adding: “We can’t afford a United States senator who leaves us behind, drives up costs even more while he gets rich.”
WRAL's Dan Haggerty and Monica Casey contributed reporting.