Senate Leadership Fund invests $17M, pledges $71M, to back Whatley

On July 29, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) announced a $17 million investment, the first round of a total $71 million invested to elect Michael Whatley. Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the NCGOP, is running against former Gov. Roy Cooper for North Carolina’s open US Senate seat, currently held by Sen. Thom Tillis, who will not be running for re-election.

The inaugural $17 million is earmarked for a summer ad campaign targeting Cooper in a new ad.

“Roy Cooper advanced his career on the backs of grieving parents and widows, catering to Far-Left groups and releasing thousands of violent criminals from prison early,” said SLF communications director Chris Gustafson in a press release. “SLF is strongly committed to ensuring voters reject Cooper and his deadly record and are proud to support Michael Whatley’s campaign to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina.” 

Cooper outraised Whatley in Q2 campaign finance reports, bringing in $14.8 million, while Whatley raised $5 million. A similar pattern was evident in Q1 reports: Cooper raised $13.8 million, while Whatley brought in $5 million.

“These attacks are false,” Cooper’s campaign spokesperson told the Carolina Journal. “After Roy fought against these releases in court, North Carolina law enforcement officials and parole officers looked to similar criteria President Trump used a year prior when his administration released thousands of federal prisoners due to COVID-19. While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars, Michael Whatley pushed to release prisoners during the pandemic and appointed to a powerful Republican Party position a convicted child sex predator who served time in prison for multiple counts of felony child sex crimes.” 

According to the May 2026 Carolina Journal poll, Cooper is also ahead in polling. Cooper was inches away from reaching 50% of the electorate, with 49.8% of likely North Carolina voters polled saying they would vote for Cooper and 38.7% saying they would vote for Whatley at the time of the poll. These results indicate an 11.1-point lead for Cooper — a gain over March, when Cooper led by 7.8 points. The poll is a survey of 600 likely voters.

Additionally, 49.8% of voters indicated a favorable view of Cooper, compared with 38.5% who expressed an unfavorable view. Whatley garnered a 25.4% favorability rating, while 21.9% shared an unfavorable view of him, according to the poll. A majority of voters (52.7%) either have no opinion (19.3%) or have never heard of (33.4%) Whatley, compared to just 11.7% of voters who have no opinion (8%) or have never heard of (3.7%) Cooper.

“Despite Roy Cooper consistently leading in the polls, he rarely cracks 50 percent,” Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “That is not a great position for someone who is running in his sixth statewide race against a relatively unknown opponent. He underperformed his poll numbers in both of his races for governor. In short, he has weaknesses Republicans believe they exploit. The SLF spending announcement is a testament to that belief. Democrats see those same weaknesses, which is why they are also pouring millions of dollars into North Carolina to attack Michael Whatley. This will be an expensive race.”

“Senate Leadership Fund invests $17M, pledges $71M, to back Whatley” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.