In response to DC insider Michael Whatley visiting the southern border today, NCDP spokesperson Mallory Payne released the following statement:

“Michael Whatley’s photo op will never be able to cover up his record: time and time again, he has opposed critical funding for law enforcement at the border tasked with taking on drug cartels and keeping families safe. It’s the Whatley playbook: he sides with DC Republicans while putting North Carolinians’ safety at risk. Whatley is weak on crime, weak on border security, and completely wrong for North Carolina.”

Whatley is trying to rewrite history on his record of opposing border funding:

• Whatley repeatedly criticized budgets that included billions in funding for Border Patrol, calling them “reckless” and leading NCGOP when they called them “wasteful.”
• Whatley opposed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that invested billions of dollars in Border Patrol.
• Whatley praised government spending cuts, calling them “vital” and “fundamental” even as the federal government gutted millions from public safety programs in North Carolina and slashed all funding for a task force to combat drug cartels and other transnational crime at the border.