Michael Whatley’s Campaign Pulls TV Ads While They Rethink Strategy

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Republican North Carolina Senate nominee Michael Whatley’s campaign temporarily pulled television advertisements Wednesday, The Raleigh News & Observer reported.

The campaign made the decision while they rethink their strategy, given that Republican political action committees (PACs) slashed funding in the state to help candidates in deep-red states, according to News & Observer. The Republican candidate was nine points behind former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper as of Wednesday, according to RealClearPolling.

“We are confident we have the resources to target our late-breaking supporters and win on Election Day,” a source told The News & Observer.

Whatley’s campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The top Republican super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, paused their spending in North Carolina after pouring $30 million into the race to support Whatley. The Senate campaign arm planned to spend $14 million in Kansas, which has not had a Democratic senator since 1939, and committed to spending over $100 million in the Texas Senate race through its closely linked affiliate, Texas PAC.

Americans for Prosperity Action, a PAC aligned with the Koch brothers, did not include North Carolina in its $22 million list of future spending across key Republican Senate contests. Old North Action removed $6.5 million in ad reservations in September, Semafor first reported.

No Going Back PAC, a super PAC aligned with Trump, had no planned ads for the week of Oct. 5 in North Carolina and was prepared to spend under $90,000 in Georgia, according to Punchbowl News. The super PAC, along with MAGA Inc. and the Safety and Affordability PAC, spent more than $163 million on advertising and air time since Sept. 1, according to KARK, an NBC News affiliate.

WinSenate, a super political action committee (PAC) aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC, removed roughly $1.1 million in North Carolina ad buys while Cooper remained safely ahead. The super PAC had $18.8 million in future reservations for North Carolina through Election Day.

Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would not seek reelection in June 2025 after President Donald Trump threatened to back a primary challenger over the senator’s vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill. Trump endorsed Whatley early in the election cycle after he chaired the Republican National Committee alongside his daughter-in-law, former co-chair Lara Trump, during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

More than half of registered voters, 53%, said they would vote for Democrats if the election were currently held, while 41% preferred Republicans, according to a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll from Sept. 23. Independent voters preferred Democrats by a 25-point margin, according to the poll.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) ran several television advertisements with Republican Senate campaigns in Alaska, Iowa, Ohio and New Hampshire, according to Punchbowl News. The campaign arm is not airing any television ads to support Whatley or Collins.