Whatley Failed Western NC. Help Us Define Him Before He Defines Himself.
Roy Cooper can win, but it's going to be close.
Eighteen months ago, Hurricane Helene tore Western North Carolina apart. Two hundred and thirty people dead. Sixty billion dollars in damage. The worst natural disaster in the history of this state. I lived through it and had $200,000 in damage to my home.
In January 2025, Donald Trump flew to Asheville, stood in front of survivors, called FEMA “a disaster,” and personally appointed Michael Whatley, then chair of the RNC, now the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, to be North Carolina’s “Helene Recovery Czar.”
That was Trump’s promise. Whatley was the man.
Eighteen months later, here is what Whatley has delivered:
Trump’s FEMA denied North Carolina’s request to keep paying 100 percent of debris cleanup. That single decision cost the state $200 million that should have gone to Yancey, Mitchell, McDowell, Madison, Avery, Watauga, and Buncombe counties.
Whatley publicly claimed that “$9 billion” in federal money has flowed to Western NC since Trump took office. The state’s own tracking data does not back that number up. Not even close.
Last month, nearly 200 Western North Carolina residents, neighbors, business owners, storm survivors still living in trailers, publicly called for Whatley to be removed as recovery czar. They have watched him from the front row. They are not impressed.
Roy Cooper walked Chimney Rock and Swannanoa in mud-caked boots in the days after the storm. Michael Whatley issued press releases from a podium and ran for the Senate.
That contrast is the entire race. We just have to make sure every voter in North Carolina sees it.
Why this race will be closer than people think
Roy Cooper has won every statewide race he has ever entered, but he has never, not once, won by a comfortable margin.
He won the governor’s mansion in 2016 by 10,277 votes out of 4.6 million cast — a 0.2 percent margin and the closest gubernatorial race in the country that year. He won re-election in 2020 by 4.5 points, once again the closest gubernatorial race in any U.S. state, in a state Donald Trump carried twice. As Attorney General, his races against Dan Boyce, Joe Knott, and Bob Crumley were competitive every time.
That is the Cooper Pattern. He wins. He grinds. He never blows anyone out.
A March Carolina Journal Poll has Cooper up 7.8 points on Whatley. By Labor Day that lead will be inside four. By Halloween it will be inside two. It always is. Whatley was the chair of the Republican National Committee. He can raise nine figures. The air war hasn’t even started.
The single most powerful thing Democrats can do right now, before Whatley’s money lands, before he gets his story straight, before swing voters tune in, is define him. Lock in the frame:
Michael Whatley was Trump’s hand-picked Helene Czar. He failed.
If that sentence is the first thing voters in Hickory, Boone, Marion, Burnsville, and Hendersonville hear when they hear his name, this race is over before it starts.
What your money buys
When you give through voteroi.com/rc that donation goes to one purpose:
Billboards and rural radio in Western North Carolina calling out Michael Whatley for the Helene relief he was put in charge of and never delivered.
Billboards along the I-40 corridor, Highway 19, Highway 64, Highway 226, and the secondary roads that thread through the counties Helene hit hardest. Every commute. Every grocery run. Every drive to church. Where’s our Helene relief, Whatley?
Rural radio — country stations, gospel stations, AM news in Mitchell, Avery, Yancey, Madison, McDowell. The stations the Asheville consultants forget exist. The stations Helene survivors actually listen to in their trucks, on their job sites, and over morning coffee.
This is not a TV buy in Charlotte. I’ve run for office out here and know what lands and moves voters. This is a ground-truth campaign in the places that lost the most and have heard the least from Trump’s recovery czar. We are going where Whatley does not want this conversation to happen.
Why VoteROI?
VoteROI charges 2.75% to route your donation. ActBlue charges 6%.
That’s more than double the fee, gone before your dollar ever does any work. Through VoteROI, more of your money makes it onto the billboard. More of your money shows up in the speakers of a pickup truck on Highway 226. More of your money becomes the message that defines this race.
The window is now
We are not asking you to wait for Labor Day. We are not asking you to wait for the debates. We are asking you to act before Whatley spends the first dollar of his Senate war chest, while his record as Helene Czar is still raw, still documentable, and still ours to define.
Cooper closes. He always does. Our job, and your job, is to make sure he has the runway to close in country he can win.
Chip in to fund the billboards and radio →
Helene survivors are still waiting. Don’t make them wait through another failed Republican Senator.
DBW
About the Author
David B. Wheeler is President and Co-Founder of American Muckrakers, an organization dedicated to accountability and transparency. He has spent four decades creating jobs, launching global initiatives, and working across all seven continents. He is also the founder of Election Integrity Watch (eiw.americanmuckrakers.com) and VoteROI.com.
Disclaimer
All opinions expressed are protected under the First Amendment and reflect commentary on matters of public concern.
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