Heading into the 2022 mid-term elections, the N.C. Republican Party will have continuity and unity surrounding its leadership. The state GOP re-elected Watauga County native and current Gaston County resident Michael Whatley as chairman during the party’s annual state convention.
Whatley will oversee state party operations, including critical get-out-the-vote operations for 2022 election. He will be tasked with unifying the activist base of the party after a potentially contentious party primary for an open U.S. Senate seat.
Whatley was first elected state party chair in summer 2019. Under his leadership, the 2020 elections were largely successful for the GOP. Then-President Donald Trump won the state’s electoral votes for a second time. Thom Tills was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in a come-from-behind victory. Republicans won open Council of State races for lieutenant governor, labor commissioner, and superintendent of public instruction. Republicans also captured all the sta