North Carolina Republicans are publicly urging the national GOP to flood the state’s Senate race with money before it slips away, according to POLITICO.
Their nominee, former RNC Chair Michael Whatley, is trailing Democrat Roy Cooper — the popular former Governor — badly in both fundraising and polling. Cooper pulled in $13.8 million in the first quarter to Whatley’s $5 million and headed into the second quarter with $18.5 million on hand versus Whatley’s roughly $2.5 million. Some public polling shows Cooper leading by as much as 14 points.
POLITICO reported that nearly a dozen North Carolina Republicans and national strategists argue that Whatley’s core problem is name recognition. Despite his time atop the RNC, GOP officials say voters who aren’t politically plugged in don’t know who he is. Bertie County GOP Chair Tuesday Sauer said Whatley faces “an uphill climb.”
Republicans want a cash infusion ahead of the traditional late-summer ad blitz to fix that. The Senate Leadership Fund has committed $71 million to the race and reserved more than $36 million in Fall broadcast ads, per AdImpact. Americans for Prosperity has already spent more than $8 million, largely on digital and streaming ads. But the biggest wild card — Donald Trump‘s MAGA Inc. and its reported $350 million war chest — has stayed quiet about its plans for North Carolina.
On strategy, the GOP plans to keep hammering Cooper over crime and his pandemic-era policies, including a settlement that released roughly 3,500 inmates during COVID-19, some of whom later reoffended. As POLITICO detailed, Cooper’s camp counters that Whatley himself pushed for pandemic prisoner releases, with spokesperson Kate Smart saying Cooper spent his career “locking up criminals.”
The stakes are high: Trump has carried North Carolina three times, and Democrats see it as a must-win in their bid to flip the Senate. But some Democrats worry Cooper’s early strength could tempt national donors to chase flashier races like Texas. Cooper adviser Morgan Jackson told POLITICO there’s “no white horse coming” for Democrats, noting the GOP’s financial edge.
