New reporting from the N&O is highlighting how the NCGOP was only able to ban child sex predators from holding party office after DC insider Michael Whatley was no longer head of the state party. When the ban was proposed previously, it was met with “unbelievable resistance” from “leadership led at that time by Michael Whatley.”

As Chair, Whatley repeatedly appointed and protected convicted child sex offender Harvey West, despite having “detailed knowledge” about West’s criminal past and drawing outrage from his fellow Republicans. 

N&O: “Michele Woodhouse, former chair of the party’s 11th Congressional District, said she has been fighting for a felony clause for about eight years. ‘It has always been met with unbelievable resistance by, sadly, leadership at that time led by Michael Whatley the chair,’ Woodhouse said.”

North Carolinians deserve to know if Michael Whatley supports the NCGOP resolution and why he “killed” a past effort to restrict felons and predators’ involvement in the party.

Plus d'informations :

N&O: NC GOP bans sex offenders from holding party office in new committee report

Ronni Butts | June 23, 2026

• Michael Magnanti, a member of the Plan of Organization Committee, said that before joining the committee, he proposed a similar amendment at the 2022 state convention — a version less “watered down” than the current clause — after he was shocked to learn there wasn’t already an eligibility clause about criminal charges. But the convention elected not to hear it, he said.
• Michele Woodhouse, former chair of the party’s 11th Congressional District, said she has been fighting for a felony clause for about eight years. “It has always been met with unbelievable resistance by, sadly, leadership at that time led by Michael Whatley the chair,” Woodhouse said.
• Michael Whatley led the NC GOP in 2019 to 2024 […] West confirmed to WRAL that Whatley appointed him to the Plan of Organization Committee.
• Both Ackiss and Woodhouse said they suspect the clause was only able to pass this month because West resigned from his post on the Plan of Organization Committee. 

NC Voices: Whatley’s Ties to Convicted Child Sex Offender Casts A Shadow Over NCGOP Convention

June 22, 2026

• As Michael Whatley took the stage at the North Carolina Republican convention last weekend, one issue continued to follow him: his years-long support for Harvey West, a convicted child sex offender whom Whatley repeatedly elevated to leadership positions within the NCGOP.
• West served six years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges of taking indecent liberties with a child after originally being charged with statutory rape involving three teenage girls, two of them just 14 years old. Despite that history, West remained deeply embedded in party leadership for years and was appointed by Whatley to roles. Party leadership under Whatley had detailed knowledge of West’s record yet supported his rise to influence.
• Three months after the story first broke, Whatley remains silent. That silence is becoming harder to defend as more North Carolinians ask a simple question: why did Michael Whatley knowingly give a convicted child sex offender power inside the Republican Party?

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