Whatley, now RNC chairman, says he'll step down from state GOP role
Michael Whatley, who has led the North Carolina Republican Party for the past five years and helped the state party secure key victories in state and federal races, is stepping down as the state party’s chairman.
The move, announced in an email to state Republican leaders late Monday, comes days after Whatley was named chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatley was named to the national role Friday, weeks after being endorsed by former President Donald Trump. He’ll serve alongside Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who was named RNC co-chair. The appointments follow former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s decision to step down from the role.
State party rules don’t preclude Whatley from holding both the state and national positions, according to state party spokesman Matt Mercer. “But in order to let North Carolina have a full-time chair, he is opting to resign,” Mercer said.
“It is important for us to have a chair who can focus solely on winning the critical races up and down the ballot in North Carolina, work closely with President Trump and his campaign and continue to work daily with all of our county and district parties, auxiliary groups and Republican candidates,” Whatley said in his email to state GOP leaders.
The state party’s executive committee plans to fill the position on March 26. State Republican Party Executive Director Jason Simmons has entered his name as a candidate for the chairmanship. In a note to committee members, he cited his work over the past three years in his currentl role and and previous work for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
“Given our position as a key battleground state, we have an immense opportunity ahead of us to re-elect President Trump and take back the Governor’s Mansion” through the election of Republican nominee Mark Robinson, Simmons wrote committee members, according to the Associated Press.
“We cannot afford to squander this opportunity,” he said. “Now is not the time for any on-the-job training.”
Simmons has the endorsement of Sen. Ted Budd, who said in a separate written statement that Simmons has a “proven track record of helping President Trump and North Carolina Republicans win,” the AP reported.
During his time as the state party chair, Whatley helped the Republicans gain control of the state Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals and gain veto-proof supermajorities in the state House and the Senate. Trump also won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020 with the help of Whatley.
"Over the past five years we have built a state party that has become the envy of the nation," Whatley said in the email.
Whatley’s efforts on election integrity were the focus of praise by Trump during a speech in Greensboro last month. Whatley recruited thousands of volunteers and hundreds of attorneys to be part of the state’s election integrity team.
Those efforts have also been the source of condemnation among Democrats, who Whatley once claimed were engaged in a massive voter fraud in some large U.S. cities. The unproven claim has been dismissed by Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
