A super PAC is making a major investment in North Carolina’s Senate race
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Senate Majority PAC announced a $31 million television reservation in NC for Cooper.
- That $31 million reservation was 41% of the PAC’s cash-on-hand as of April 15.
- The PAC criticized Whatley’s role in North Carolina’s Helene recovery.
A super PAC focused on electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate is making a major investment in Roy Cooper.
The Senate Majority PAC announced, Wednesday, a $31 million television advertising reservation in North Carolina to support Cooper against Republican Michael Whatley in the U.S. Senate race.
That’s 41% of the cash the political action committee had on hand as of April 15, according to a report filed to the Federal Election Committee.
Cooper and Whatley are facing off to succeed Sen. Thom Tillis, who chose to forgo a reelection campaign after disagreeing with President Donald Trump over the impact last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill would have on North Carolina’s Medicaid recipients.
Trump handpicked Whatley to succeed Tillis, but first he has to face Cooper, North Carolina’s two-term governor and four-term attorney general, in the midterm election. Cooper held public office every year since the mid-1980s until being term-limited at the beginning of 2025.
Whatley led the Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party, but gave up his national leadership position to focus on the Senate race.
Whatley already has the backing of the Senate Majority PAC’s rival, Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund. Last month, The New York Times reported, that GOP group reserved $71 million in North Carolina TV advertising to support Whatley as part of a $350 million plan across the country.
The Senate Leadership Fund began 2026 with $100 million, meaning it would have to raise the difference, the newspaper reported. As of April 15, it reported having $166 million, after spending all but $6 million previously, according to the FEC.
What voters will hear in Cooper and Whatley ads
Cooper, 68, of Raleigh, has led every major poll against Whatley, 57, of Gastonia, with the most recent, nonpartisan poll showing Cooper eight points ahead. Other previous polls indicate voters largely aren’t aware of Whatley.
But the Senate Majority PAC told McClatchy Tuesday that this latest investment, six months before the midterms, ensures voters hear directly about Whatley.
Specifically, the committee aims to tell voters about “Whatley’s tenure as North Carolina’s Trump-appointed ‘recovery czar.’”
In January 2025, Trump traveled to Western North Carolina to survey the damage left behind from Helene, a fall 2024 storm that caused at least 108 deaths and $59.6 billion in damages in North Carolina.
Trump announced Whatley was now in charge of the Helene recovery efforts in North Carolina and put him on a board focused on reviewing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s role in disaster relief.
Last week, the FEMA Review Council met with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to review their findings and make recommendations to the president about the agency.
Whatley used his time as a five-minute stump speech attacking both former President Joe Biden and Cooper for their reaction to Helene and praising the Trump administration’s role in recovery.
Sens. Tillis and Ted Budd, both Republicans from North Carolina, have criticized former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose policies caused delays in funding already authorized by Congress from reaching the state for recovery efforts. Once Mullin took over Noem’s position, money began flowing more quickly to the state.
“Michael Whatley has made it clear that his priority as senator will be acting as a rubber-stamp for Donald Trump,” said Lauran French, spokeswoman for the Senate Majority PAC. “Nowhere was that truer than when he failed to bring back real relief for North Carolinians after Helene or stand up for families being crushed by higher prices.”
The news of the super PAC’s television reservation comes the same week the committee launched a new ad attacking Whatley on Helene.
