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
