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Republicans are rallying around Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley for the up-for-grabs U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina. Whatley jumped into a race that already features former Gov. Roy Cooper running on the Democratic side. It’s likely to become the most fiercely contested and expensive race of the 2026 cycle.
Whatley, who is also the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, is prominent in GOP circles but not as well-known to voters. He is a political insider skilled in fundraising and organizing campaigns, though he hasn’t held public office. A Watauga County native, he has sought to brand Republicans as the “party of faith.”
President Donald Trump last year asked him to stay on as RNC chair after the 2024 election, and the president gave Whatley his blessing in the Senate race.
“He is STRONG on the Border, stopping Crime, supporting our Military/Veterans, cutting Taxes, and saving our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I need him in Washington, and I need him representing YOU!”
Here’s what you need to know about the presumptive Republican frontrunner in the Senate race.
Who is Michael Whatley?
The intersection of religion and politics has long fascinated Whatley. As a high school student in 1984, he volunteered for Republican Sen. Jesse Helms’ re-election campaign against then-Gov. Jim Hunt.
After studying history at UNC Charlotte, Whatley received a master’s degree in religion at Wake Forest University in 1993 and a joint degree in law and theology from Notre Dame in 1998.
Whatley worked for George W. Bush’s Florida recount team in 2000 and served as deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Energy. In 2004, Sen. Elizabeth Dole named Whatley her chief of staff. He also worked as vice president at HBW Resources, a lobbying firm for oil and gas companies.
In 2019, Whatley became chairman of the North Carolina GOP. He channeled faith into that work, appearing at churches and events sponsored by conservative evangelical groups.
But he found himself in a tough spot as some of the candidates the state party promoted made headlines for comments that clashed with his vision for a party rooted in faith. That included Mark Robinson, the former lieutenant governor whom Whatley once praised as “a man of tremendous faith.”
During Robinson’s run for governor, The Assembly reported that six men said he’d been a regular customer at Greensboro video porn shops in the 1990s and early 2000s. CNN later published a story documenting Robinson’s alleged online posts making Holocaust-denying and misogynistic comments on a porn site. (Robinson denied the allegations in both articles.) Some Republicans bashed Whatley for not doing more to vet Robinson.
“The things that Mark has been alleged to be involved in are antithetical to Republican values,” Whatley said last year. “And it is incumbent on Mark as a candidate to talk to the voters and demonstrate that those are not his words and his actions or his values.”
What’s Whatley’s relationship with Trump?
As state GOP chair, Whatley was instrumental in helping Trump win North Carolina for the second time in the 2020 election.
An ardent Trump supporter, Whatley echoed many of the president’s false claims about voter fraud in that election, though he later acknowledged Joe Biden’s legitimacy as president. Whatley was in charge of the state party when it censured Sen. Richard Burr for voting to impeach Trump over the January 6 riot and when it censured Sen. Thom Tillis for supporting LGBTQ rights, immigration, and gun violence policies.
Whatley’s success in getting Republicans elected in North Carolina and loyalty to Trump earned him a promotion to the national committee in 2024, and he led the party to victories across swing states in that year’s election.
“The Tar Heel State has supported President Trump in all three of his elections and elected Republicans to both its U.S. Senate seats for over a decade,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott said in a statement on X. “With Michael as our candidate, we will win it again in 2026!”
Trump gave his “total endorsement” to Whatley, saying that he would make “an unbelievable Senator.” Politico reported that Trump believes Whatley has extensive knowledge of the state and its political apparatus, as well as the national profile and network to compete against Cooper.
The president’s daughter in law Lara Trump, a Wilmington native and former RNC co-chair, reportedly considered a run but opted out.
Where does he stand on issues?
So far, retired businessman Andy Nilsson and former U.S. Navy JAG officer Don Brown have announced plans to compete in the Republican primary.
Whatley has not outlined a platform, but he’s expected to align with the Trump administration’s agenda.
After the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Whatley said he was proud of the work of anti-abortion activists for defending “the sanctity of life” and electing pro-life candidates to Congress. In 2024, he defended a party platform that said states were free to pass their own abortion laws and called for members to “oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF.” Some Republicans wanted the document to be more aggressively anti-abortion.
He also could make election integrity a focus. Under his leadership, the RNC was involved in state and federal lawsuits to challenge voting laws and procedures across the country. He also recruited many poll watchers during the 2020 election, winning Trump’s admiration in the process, according to The New York Times.
Lucas Lin is a junior at Duke University pursuing a major in economics and a certificate in documentary studies. He is managing editor at The Duke Chronicle, the university’s independent student newspaper. Beyond journalism, he is passionate about storytelling through documentary filmmaking and photography.