#whatley — Public Fediverse posts

The marquee matchup for the open US Senate seat in North Carolina will begin to resolve into focus Tuesday,
with a well-known former Democratic governor and a Donald Trump-endorsed but untested Republican appearing to lead the field.

In the Democratic primary, former two-term governor Roy #Cooper is ahead in recent polling against the slate of other candidates who have never held elected office. Cooper is widely seen among North Carolina’s Democrats as their best chance at flipping a Republican-controlled seat, now held by retiring US senator Thom #Tillis, a conservative who has turned hard against the Trump administration on its handling of healthcare, defense and the Epstein file disclosures.
For Republicans, Michael #Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair, leads the field in polling, with his closest competitor, representative Don #Brown, in the single digits.

Polling in both primaries has been relatively scant and may have masked softness in conservative support for Whatley. About half of the Republican electorate remains undecided heading to voting booths Tuesday.
Whatley has Trump’s endorsement, but that hasn’t stopped the grumbling on the right.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/03/north-carolina-democratic-republican-primaries-senate?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Massachusetts Republicans have ousted the general chair of the Republican National Convention from his post as a national committeeman.
#Ron #Kaufman, a former treasurer for the Republican National Committee,
was upset by #Brad #Wyatt, a
🥺longtime activist with #Tea #Party roots,
in a narrow 37-35 vote taken at a Republican State Committee meeting Saturday
Kaufman will continue serving as national committeeman through the July convention in Milwaukee. He will remain chair of the gathering unless he is removed by RNC Chair #Michael #Whatley, according to a person familiar with the party’s processes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/06/massachusetts-gop-ousts-ron-kaufman-from-rnc-post-00150911

Lara Trump says she’d spend ‘every single penny’ of RNC funds to elect her father-in-law.

Corrupt Donald Trump effectively became the leader of the Republican Party, a position he holds to this day despite the many alleged crimes and that one attempted coup.

So it seemed like only a matter of time until one of his family members was literally running the Republican National Committee, and apparently that may be happening very soon.

In a statement released on Monday, Trump declared that he wants current North Carolina GOP chair Michael #Whatley to replace Ronna #McDaniel as the leader of the #RNC, with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, serving as cochair.

#Lara’s qualifications for the job appear to be that (a) she regularly goes on TV and says completely ridiculous things about her father-in-law (like that he might win New York in November) and (b) she’s married to #Eric Trump.
(Eric is Trump’s third child and second-oldest son, and he inherited his intelligence from his father.)

Whatley’s main qualification, according to The New York Times, is that he’s all in on the thoroughly debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/donald-trump-lara-trump-rnc-michael-whatley

The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna #McDaniel, has told Donald #Trump she is planning to step down shortly after the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Mr. Trump is then likely to promote the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Michael #Whatley, as her replacement, according to several people familiar with the discussions.

Under the committee’s rules, Mr. Trump cannot simply install someone.
A new election must take place, and Mr. Whatley could face internal party dissent.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/politics/ronna-mcdaniel-rnc-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare