Two Worlds Collide
Raised in a small town, working on a tobacco farm in the summer, with old-fashioned politeness, today, after years in politics, Roy Cooper has a rare trait: People who don’t agree with him still like him.
Growing up on the other side of the state, a mountain Republican, step by step Michael Whatley worked his way up the ladder, in Washington became a successful lobbyist. Trump was elected. Whatley became state Republican Party chairman. Then national Republican Party chairman. Then Trump asked him to run for Senate.
And two worlds collided.
We’ve got a Trump Republican running against an old-fashioned Democrat for Senate.
So who wins?
Cooper’s better known and he’s popular – that’s rare in politics these days.
Whatley, less known, is behind. He can change that but it’ll cost him a lot of money.
Whatley’s raised $5 million – a lot. But Cooper’s raised $18 million. But spending by independent groups, helping Whatley, could level that playing field.
Trump’s won North Carolina three times but he’s now unpopular. Independent voters – the swing voters – have been voting against Trump candidates 2 to 1. That’s a hurdle for Whatley. But it doesn’t seem to bother him – he hugs Trump, reposting Trump’s posts, praises Trump as the greatest president of our lifetime. Naturally, Independent’s see Whatley as Trump’s man – while they see Cooper as his own man. Another hurdle.
In off-year elections – like this one – the party in power usually loses. The first time I saw an election like that was back in 1982, two years after Reagan was elected; we’d won two Senate elections and a presidential election here in North Carolina so I thought we were sailing toward another win – on election day we got crushed. And there’s little Whatley can do about that hurdle – the winds and tides driving this election to Democrats are beyond a candidate’s control.
Finally, most Senate elections are about issues – but this election’s different: It’s about character. What Independent voters don’t like about Trump is his character, so they’re looking for candidates with old-fashioned virtues like politeness and honesty.
Cooper seems to have grasped that: After ICE agents shot Alex Pretti in Minnesota, he talked about locking up violent criminals as attorney general, added shooting Pretti didn’t make people safer, said the chaos in Minnesota needs to stop. Then asked a simple question: Why hasn’t Michael Whatley spoken out? He didn’t slam Whatley. He simply asked a question, pointed to a character flaw.
Whatley has been slamming Cooper, posting mugshots of murderers and rapists on social media, he’ll say this is Rodriguez, he killed 2 people, then lay the blame on Cooper. But that’s the kind of politics people are tired of.
Election day’s a long way away. Things can change. But Trump’s unpopularity is set in stone so, right now, this election looks like a hard mountain for Republicans and Whatley to climb.