New reporting from MS NOW is highlighting how DC insider and Big Oil Lobbyist Michael Whatley has repeatedly “dismiss[ed] affordability concerns,” claiming that inflation is down and that “costs are coming down.”
Whatley’s tone deaf comments couldn’t be more out of touch with North Carolina families.
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MS NOW: ‘Take one less trip to Starbucks’: GOP Senate candidates keep dismissing affordability concerns
Kevin Frey | April 1, 2026
- Across key Senate races this cycle, several Republican Senate candidates have downplayed rising costs…
- “We feel pretty good about the economy,” [Whatley] told Fox News in February.
- In January, on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Whatley said Americans had “seen inflation prices come down so dramatically since President Trump took over.” And in February, appearing on the same show, he said the “North Carolina economy is getting back on its feet.”
- “We are seeing right now that jobs are being created, paychecks are bigger, costs are coming down,” [Whatley] said.
- Those comments could easily come back to haunt Whatley, as his Democratic opponent — former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper — makes affordability central to his campaign.
- As Whatley said last June, in remarks tailormade for a political attack ad, “President Trump campaigned on bringing down gasoline prices, grocery prices, and housing prices.”
- “How are we doing?” Whatley asked.
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