‘I am still with that guy’: Whatley doubles down on Trump at North Carolina event

GASTONIA — North Carolina resident Charles Whatley hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976. It was his first time voting.

In the past 50 years, he said he’s alternated between choosing Republicans and independents, depending on who’s running.

“A lot of it is independent politics is better, such different ideas,” Charles Whatley told NC Newsline. “People always tell me I’m wasting votes. I don’t think any vote is wasted.”

Whatley came to Gastonia Wednesday to hear President Donald Trump make his case, but he already plans to vote for Republican candidate Michael Whatley (no relation) in North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race.

Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican Party, is vying for the Tar Heel State’s open Senate seat. Whatley has never run for public office before, but won the 2026 Republican primary with Trump’s endorsement.

But he’s trailing his opponent, Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper, in recent polls and fundraising. That’s led to Trump visiting Gastonia (opens in a new tab) on Wednesday to mobilize the GOP base.

Speaking to a crowd of less than 1000 people at the Gastonia regional airport, Trump reminded North Carolinians that he’s won the state six times, including in the primaries. In 2024, he won more votes than any candidate in North Carolina history, he said, thanking Whatley for his assistance with those victories.

“I said to everybody, anybody that would listen, ‘When I win this thing, I’m going to take that guy from North Carolina, make him the head of the Republican Party,’ which is exactly what I did,” Trump said. “He was fantastic. Nobody better in the whole country. I had my choice of the whole country, I chose Michael Whatley.”

Trump’s approval rating in North Carolina has hovered in the mid-thirties, and some GOP candidates have reportedly shied away from campaigning with him. But Michael Whatley didn’t pull away from the president.

“Back in 2015, I got a call from Trump Tower, asking me if I would help a businessman run for president in North Carolina, and at that time he was at 1% in the polls. He was 15th out of 15 in that Republican primary, and I said yes,” Whatley told the crowd, standing next to Trump on stage.

“Here we are, 11 years later, and every single day, Donald Trump is fighting to make America great, and I am still with that guy,” Whatley said.

North Carolina’s Senate seat could be critical to majority control of the upper chamber. Cook Political Report rates the race as “lean Democrat.”

At the moment, Republicans hold 53 seats, while Democrats have 45. Two independent senators caucus with the Democrats.

“Trump can fly to Gastonia and throw all the rallies he wants, but it won’t change the fact that Republicans are chained to a toxic president North Carolinians are fed up with,” Senate Majority PAC press secretary Christyna Thompson said. “This was a panic move to reassure their base.”