Michael Whatley

As Republican National Committee chairman, backed the party's federal lawsuit to stop Nevada from counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. Nevada law counts ballots that arrive up to four days late if postmarked in time.

May 3, 2024Opposes Civil Rights

Source: apnews.com · researched August 18, 2026

Received the unanimous endorsement of the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association for U.S. Senate.

July 9, 2026

Source: nsjonline.com · researched August 18, 2026

Appointed Harvey West, who had a prior child-sex-offense conviction, to the North Carolina Republican Party's Plan of Organization Committee in 2021 and 2024, according to West's account that the party did not dispute.

March 31, 2026

Source: politifact.com · researched August 18, 2026

Received the North Carolina Troopers Association's endorsement for U.S. Senate.

March 4, 2026

Source: ncnewsline.com · researched August 18, 2026

Worked for two years for Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, after a job in the George W. Bush administration's Department of Energy, and later lobbied for oil and gas companies.

July 31, 2025

Source: apnews.com · researched August 18, 2026

Decided to run for North Carolina's open Senate seat after President Trump asked him to and gave the run his blessing. Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, whom the President had called his first choice, had said the day before that she would not run. Whatley was chairman of the Republican National Committee at the time.

July 24, 2025

Source: witn.com · researched August 18, 2026

Was elected chair of the Republican National Committee.

March 8, 2024

Source: axios.com · researched August 18, 2026

Faced a lawsuit challenging his 2023 reelection as state party chair after acknowledged technical problems with the party's voting app; the lawsuit was dismissed.

February 13, 2024

Source: apnews.com · researched August 18, 2026

Recruited hundreds of lawyers and poll watchers for the North Carolina Republican Party's 2020 election operation and later claimed the effort prevented cheating.

February 13, 2024

Source: apnews.com · researched August 18, 2026

Spoke at a 2022 conference of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team at its founder's invitation, and around the same time let that founder promote the group on a conference call of county Republican chairs. The team is a chapter of the Election Integrity Network, which the lawyer Cleta Mitchell set up in 2021 to train poll watchers to hunt aggressively for fraud at the polls.

February 12, 2024

Source: ncnewsline.com · researched August 18, 2026

Chaired the North Carolina Republican Party when it voted unanimously on February 15, 2021 to censure Senator Richard Burr, two days after Burr voted to convict Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial. A censure is a formal statement of disapproval that carries no legal penalty. Whatley said the vote was aimed at that one decision rather than at Burr: "I don't think this is a statement against Richard Burr as a senator, I think this is a statement that we disagree with that particular vote."

February 15, 2021

Source: newsweek.com · researched August 18, 2026

Served as director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs and signed an official response transmitting congressional testimony.

July 17, 2001

Source: energy.gov · researched August 18, 2026

North Carolina and Virginia court records showed repeated failures to appear in traffic cases, including two 2015 arrest orders and four convictions entered in his absence.

April 25, 2026

Source: ncnewsline.com · researched August 18, 2026