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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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Everything costs more right now.
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.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
