In new reporting from NC Newsline, the GOP base continues to sound the alarm about Michael Whatley knowingly elevating a convicted child sex predator to NCGOP leadership. Local conservative leaders even say they were snubbed by Whatley when they raised their concerns about West six years ago.

NC Newsline: [Republican Michele] “Woodhouse was more blunt. ‘There’s really nothing Michael Whatley could do that would get me to vote for him,’ she said.

NC Newsline: [Republican Michele] “Woodhouse said six years ago, she requested a closed session of the NCGOP Central Committee to discuss concerns over the fundraisers at West’s house, but was rebuffed by Whatley and his leadership team.”

This follows the Washington Examiner yesterday highlighting the growing “pressure” Whatley is facing “to answer why he twice appointed” a convicted child sex predator over the objections of members of his own party. 

Whatley has dodged reporter questions on the matter for the past 22 days. 

NC Newsline: Heading into midterms, NCGOP faces mounting backlash from its conservative base

Brandon Kingdollar | April 1, 2026

• Whatley has come under fire for his ties to 1st Congressional District Chair Harvey West, a convicted sex offender whom he appointed to a key rulemaking body for the state GOP multiple times — a connection that first came to light when it was raised by conservative activists, before it was seized on by Democrats as a key attack against a candidate who remains unknown to many voters in the state.
• Whatley’s campaign spokesman and the North Carolina Republican Party declined to comment for this story.
• Whatley appointed West to the state Plan of Organization Committee multiple times, including in 2024, according to PolitiFact.
• Woodhouse was more blunt. “There’s really nothing Michael Whatley could do that would get me to vote for him,” she said.
• Woodhouse said six years ago, she requested a closed session of the NCGOP Central Committee to discuss concerns over the fundraisers at West’s house, but was rebuffed by Whatley and his leadership team.
• “Many of us within Republican ranks that would identify as conservatives first and Republicans second are not supporting Michael Whatley,” Woodhouse said. “He did not protect those candidates that attended the Judicial Victory Picnic at Harvey’s house.”
• “As the mother of a young child and as a public servant, I’m horrified that we have to call out Michael Whatley’s egregious employment of a child predator as alarming in the first place,” said Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham), flanked by a photo of Whatley with West and West’s mugshot on poster boards. “I’m here to define Michael Whatley’s enablement as what it really is: dangerous and, frankly, soft on crime.”
• “It is our duty as North Carolinians to ensure that every single voter knows Mr. Whatley used his position of power to elevate child predators and put our kids in danger,” Alexis Stadler, a sexual assault survivor from Union Co., said at the event. “If this is how he used the NCGOP chairmanship, how would he use a seat in the United States Senate?”

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