New reporting from WSOC exposed Michael Whatley for lying about his position on the court-ordered settlement that forced the state to increase inmate releases during the pandemic.
Newly resurfaced comments show Whatley supporting the settlement six years ago. Now, for his own political gain, he’s making it his “main attack” – despite these attacks being fact checked as false – against Roy Cooper on the campaign trail.
WSOC: “The COVID settlement that led to the early release of prisoners has become a major campaign issue in the U.S. Senate race. A Channel 9 review found that, before this became a line of attack by Michael Whatley against Roy Cooper, Michael Whatley had criticized Roy Cooper at a 2020 roundtable for not doing enough to protect people in prison, saying Roy Cooper would only take COVID in prisons seriously when a judge ordered him to.”
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WSOC: Before campaign attack, Whatley urged stronger prison COVID response
Joe Bruno | July 1, 2026
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley’s main attack on former Gov. Roy Cooper is the COVID-era settlement that resulted in the early release of inmates from prison.
- But in the early stages of the state’s battle against COVID-19, Whatley and NCGOP, which he led at the time, criticized Cooper for not doing enough to protect inmates in prison.
- In a July 2020 NCGOP roundtable, Whatley called out Cooper for his COVID-19 response, including in prisons.
- A week later, NCGOP issued a press release about a TV ad Cooper was running about the COVID response. The press release criticized Cooper for only “taking COVID in prison seriously when a judge orders him to.” The press release linked to a Charlotte Observer article that was about the judicial case that eventually led to people being released from prison.
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