President Trump is heading to North Carolina on December 20, 2025, to headline an event promoting Michael Whatley, the frontrunner for the 2026 GOP Senate nomination to replace retiring RINO Sen. Thom Tillis. Whatley, the former RNC chairman who was handpicked by the president. In his comments, he emphasized Trump’s popularity in the state and framed the midterms as a way to protect Trump’s legacy from Democratic investigations.
Supporting his candidacy, he touted economic improvements under Trump and attacked his likely opponent, Roy Cooper, on crime, immigration, and transgender issues. Democrats counter that Trump is faltering and will drag Republicans down in 2026.
Starting off his comments, Michael Whatley, former RNC chairman, tied his campaign to Trump. “President Trump won North Carolina all three times. 2016, 2020, and 2024… because he connects directly with the people of North Carolina, talking about the issues that they care about. So it is very important to have him on the ground,” the senatorial hopeful announced.
Continuing his praise for the president, Whatley noted, “He is fantastically popular in North Carolina. He has a real affinity for the state. The voters…love him, and it’ll be very, very good to get him back in North Carolina.”
Additionally, he explained that Trump’s help is needed in this close race. “We’re certainly going to need him to be on the ballot. When you think about what happens if we lose the House, if we lose the Senate, if the Democrats take over, and they go right back to investigations and hoaxes and impeachments, that is really, truly the president and his legacy are going to be on the ballot,” he said.
Building on this point, the Republcian candidate pointed out, “He is fighting right now to bring down gasoline prices… We’re fighting, you know, every day against the Fed, trying to get them to lower interest rates and make housing more affordable. And you know, there’s, there’s a fight every day with this administration to try and bring down the prices for everybody.”
Continuing his comments on the economy, he kept going. “We’re seeing signs already that the economy is starting to tick up and is starting to take hold as the President’s policies are getting in place,” Wheatly said, We need to make sure that we have the trade policies, the tax policies, the regulatory policies from this administration that are going to help our small businesses, our manufacturers and our farmers across North Carolina.”
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Describing his tactics for the campaign, the former RNC head added a detailed plan, saying, “We’re talking to every single community. We will be in all 100 counties across North Carolina, and we’re fighting for every single family.”
Still not done, he noted, “Our voters know Donald Trump, and they know me. I’ve worked on his campaigns since 2016. President Trump won North Carolina in all three election cycles. So we know how to win, and we have the policies that are going to win.”
Concluding his comments, he turned to his opponent, saying, “Roy Cooper is on the wrong side of every 80-20 issue. He has fought harder for criminals, for illegal aliens, men who want to, you know, play in women’s sports and be in women’s locker rooms. Those are issue sets that he’s going to have to defend.”
Watch Utah’s RINO Governor again betray Trump here: