NC GOP aims for an air of stability amid Trump indictment chaos
For a glimpse of how quickly the tables can turn in politics, look no further than the recent arc of the North Carolina Republican Party’s convention.
The state GOP launched its 2019 event with its leadership in question after then-Chairman Robin Hayes had been indicted on federal charges for lying to the FBI. And at the time, there was no doubt that President Donald Trump would be the party’s nominee for the 2020 election.
Fast forward to today and you’ll find the reverse scenario. The state party’s leadership is stable but the top of the ticket is in question.
Michael Whatley, who North Carolina Republicans elected to replace Hayes at the 2019 convention, remains the state party’s chairman after helping Republicans secure multiple key wins across the state. Whatley’s organization hosted three presidential hopefuls on Friday and Saturday: former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Trump, who used part of his time on the convention stage to repudiate a 37-count federal indictment that was unsealed Friday. Trump is due in federal court next week.
While the 17-month path to the 2024 elections may be chaotic and tumultuous, especially as Trump’s legal quandary endures, Whatley wants North Carolina Republicans to leave Greensboro with the belief that the state party is stable and in good hands.
“North Carolina strategically and politically is an absolutely essential state for the Republican Party and for the country,” Whatley said on WRAL’s “On The Record” program, which aired Saturday. “We are a battleground state and I think the biggest message that we’re looking at here is that the Republican Party is strong.”
Since Whatley took over as chairman, Republicans delivered the state to Trump in 2020, won hotly contested U.S. Senate races in 2020 and 2022 and took control of the state Supreme Court. Republicans are also now able to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes after gaining a supermajority in the state legislature — by enticing a Democratic state representative to defect to their side.
The GOP’s success in part prompted the state Democratic Party to sweep out its top officers this year and appoint 25-year-old Anderson Clayton as chair.
Saturday afternoon, the state GOP rewarded Whatley — electing him to a third two-year term as chair over a challenge from businessman John Kane Jr., who suggested that Whatley didn’t do enough to quell concerns about election integrity in North Carolina.
“I got into this race largely because of election integrity,” Kane told WRAL. “Folks have never been more concerned about the veracity of our elections.”
Party chairs wear many hats. They’re expected to raise money, maintain relationships with officials in Washington, D.C., coordinate election activities with leaders in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, and serve as a spokesperson for the organization. It’s not easy keeping everyone happy.
But this weekend, Whatley enjoyed compliments from Republicans at the lowest and highest levels.
Just minutes before party officials started their meeting Saturday afternoon, he received an endorsement from the convention’s headline speaker.
“The NCGOP has a great Chairman in Michael Whatley, who will do a fantastic job leading the Republican Party to historic wins in 2024,” Trump’s Truth Social account posted at 1:33 Saturday. “Michael has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump’s Truth Social post said.
Pence also praised Whatley Saturday, after the party chairman welcomed the former vice president to the convention stage as the lunch speaker. Pence called Whatley “the most dynamic Republican state chairman in the United States of America,” and thanked him for leading the North Carolina GOP to “unprecedented success.”
Clayton, the new state Democratic Party chair, was ushered-in partly for helping Democrats win local board seats in rural Person County. Her upset victory over former party chair Bobbie Richardson, the establishment favorite, garnered national attention that she has embraced in an effort to draw eyeballs and donations to the North Carolina Democratic Party.
She’s launching new efforts to find candidates and win votes in rural North Carolina— an area she says the party has neglected. Clayton declined to comment on Whatley’s reelection.
Whatley, for his part, is working on a counteroffensive: building relationships with people who have historically supported Democrats. He helped the Republican National Committee open an office in Robeson County to improve outreach to the area’s Native American residents. He says the party just launched a new urban engagement initiative in Durham. And he says wants the party to be sensitive to the opinions of swing voters in suburbia — people who can tip the scales of statewide elections.
“We cannot neglect urban voters,” he said. “We cannot neglect suburban voters. … If we consign ourselves to be a rural-only party, Republicans will get killed,” Whatley told WRAL.
“So we have spent a very significant amount of our time working on, talking to suburban voters. Talking to urban voters,” he continued.
Frank Fortunato, who’s involved with the New Hanover County GOP, says he’s been impressed by Whatley’s attention to detail.
“He’s established something called the judicial victory fund which has been a huge asset in getting judges across the state elected,” Fortunata said. “Mike has been proven and established and I feel comfortable supporting him.”
Party chairmen may not receive much public praise for winning elections but their mistakes are amplified if the party loses them, said Doug Heye, a Washington-based Republican strategist from North Carolina. In swing states like North Carolina, the Republican National Committee needs state parties to use their financial and human resources as efficiently as possible.
“When you have a party chair in a swing state that you can depend on, you sleep easier at night,” said Heye, the RNC’s former communications director.
“Michael’s keeping the trains running on time, and even making them run faster — while also doing a lot of voter outreach that’s very helpful to the campaigns,” Heye said. “Party leaders aren’t seeing mistakes.”
The party won key North Carolina races even before Trump rose to prominence. Whatley says the North Carolina GOP will be prepared to deliver the state to the next Republican presidential candidate — whoever that may be.
