Heading into midterms, NCGOP faces mounting backlash from its conservative base ...Middle East

State Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger warms up a crowd for President Donald Trump in Rocky Mount on December 19, 2025. Less than three months later, he would lose his primary despite the president’s endorsement. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

The North Carolina Republican Party is facing a groundswell of conservative backlash, including efforts to oust state party officials at the county level, heading into a midterm election year in which the GOP must surmount long odds to avoid losing control of Congress.

Most at risk from this grassroots anger may be Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley, who’s been tied inextricably to state party leadership for the last decade, presiding over the state GOP from 2019 to 2024 after successfully leading Trump’s first campaign effort in the state.

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.

‘Who’s got your ear?’

Nowhere was the discontent with the party’s establishment clearer than in Rockingham County, where voters rebuked the most powerful Republican in North Carolina, state Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, earlier this month by electing his opponent, Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page, in the primary election.

Page hewed closely to President Donald Trump through the campaign despite the president’s endorsement of Berger, but often condemned state party leadership for losing sight of the concerns of ordinary voters.

Those anti-establishment refrains came through most clearly when he criticized state Senate leadership for failing to pass a state budget, or for bills that seemed at odds with the wishes of Republican voters, like pushes for a casino in Rockingham County and to ban the state’s shrimp trawling industry.

“Why would anyone in that position want to put a lawful, working industry out of business?” Page said in a campaign ad criticizing “Raleigh insiders” for the shrimping ban. “The only thing I can figure is, who’s got your ear? Special interests, big business, big dollars.”

He also took aim at the super PACs backing Berger, which spent millions trying to assure the Senate leader’s victory in the primary.

“For more than eight months, Phil Berger’s campaign and allied dark-money groups have blanketed the district with misleading mailers, attack ads, and deceptive text messages targeting me,” Page said on social media, calling out the largest group, N.C. True Conservatives, by name.

Berger’s loss has reverberated across county Republican parties, where local officials are now contemplating efforts to remove a key Berger supporter, state Republican Party Finance Chairman Larry Shaheen.

Shaheen was simultaneously serving as the lead fundraiser for the state party and as the treasurer for N.C. True Conservatives, the PAC that spent millions to try to help Berger win his primary.

Lee County Republican Party Chair Jim Womack said Shaheen’s conduct is part of a pattern in which the party “has shown itself not to be concerned about observing rules or ensuring fairness in the way the party leadership operates.”

“If you’re a finance chair, you, in theory, have access to everything you would need to know to help finance the party,” Womack said. “Whether you take advantage of it or not, it gives you an unfair advantage in having access to people who are in the business of contributing to conservatives.”

On March 21, the Lee County GOP unanimously voted to call for Shaheen’s removal.

“This body affirms that Party leadership must remain neutral in contested Republican primaries, avoiding even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and acting in a manner that preserves the trust of Republican voters,” the resolution stated.

Shaheen declined to comment when asked about the removal resolution. State GOP spokesman Matt Mercer declined to comment on the efforts.

Womack said calls for unity are “comical” in the context of a party that “has put its toe on the scale of several races.” He said activists like him are “trying to hold the leadership accountable to fairness of the rules itself,” and that listening to the base’s concerns would better help the party represent its voters.

At the Buncombe County GOP Convention March 28, a similar resolution was tabled, according to conservative activist Michele Woodhouse. Buncombe County GOP Chairman Roger Kumpf said in a statement that no resolution against Shaheen was considered at the convention.

The Lee County resolution will be considered at the convention of the 13th Congressional District on April 11, and if approved, would rise to the state GOP convention for consideration.

“I’m very confident that District 13 will pass the resolution. We have the most conservative district in the state, and a district that is rich in accountability,” Womack said. “Whatever happens after that is up in the air, because the same leadership team that dodges accountability at the state is the one that appoints the Resolutions Committee chair at the state.”

‘A reflection on the party’s reputation and integrity’

In Dare County, the strife began in January, when longtime party fundraiser and 1st Congressional District Chair Harvey West moderated a Jan. 22 forum for Board of Education candidates.

Republicans in the county complained about West’s role, saying that West is a convicted sex offender, having pleaded guilty to multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with a child in 2000. Those charges stemmed from multiple incidents between West — then a 28-year-old police officer in the Outer Banks — and teenage girls that were initially charged as statutory rape before they were reduced by a plea deal.

That backlash continued to mount until West resigned from his roles on the 1st Congressional District chapter and the state GOP Plan of Organization, which oversees the drafting of the state party’s rules document, following sustained criticism of his past from conservative activists and Democrats alike.

In the weeks since, attention has shifted to the candidates who attended the annual Judicial Victory Picnic held at West’s home, following the Asheville Watchdog’s reporting on candidates who attended despite West’s criminal record.

North Carolina Democrats have seized on the connection as a way to question the character of state Supreme Court candidate Rep. Sarah Stevens (R-Surry) among others. And even some of Stevens’ fellow Republicans say it could be an issue in November.

Woodhouse, often an outspoken critic of the GOP establishment, said a history of attending the picnics “will start to call into question people’s judgment.”

“Sarah Stevens, I guarantee you, today is regretting that she attended that picnic,” said Woodhouse. “It’s going to cost her her election. She will lose to Anita Earls.”

Stevens and West did not respond to requests for comment.

Womack said he sees similarities in the way state party officials dismissed members’  concerns about Shaheen and West. He said it’s a symptom of “internal inertia” within party leadership: “They tend to get into these positions and stay there forever.”

“We have a history in the Republican Party of North Carolina of putting past felons in positions of authority, and I think it’s high time we reconsider that,” Womack said. “If you’re going to be a reflection on the party’s reputation and integrity, then you need to be free from felonious convictions.”

‘He did not protect those candidates’

The controversies surrounding West and Shaheen could damage the Republican in the state’s highest-profile race this November: U.S. Senate Republican nominee Michael Whatley, who appointed both men to roles during his tenure leading the state Republican Party.

Whatley appointed West to the state Plan of Organization Committee multiple times, including in 2024, according to PolitiFact. And he appointed Shaheen as deputy finance chair before Shaheen was appointed finance chair by Jason Simmons, Whatley’s successor, the state GOP spokesman confirmed.

“Mr. West had shown no interest in leaving until, I think, it was starting to have implications in Mr. Whatley’s race for U.S. Senate, and almost overnight, Mr. West decides to resign,” Womack said. “There is some reckoning that needs to occur within the party, and hopefully we will deal with that in the coming months.”

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.”

What started as conservative anger at the local level is now being leveraged as a key line of attack by North Carolina Democrats hoping to undermine Whatley’s assertions that he is tough on crime, unlike his Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper.

Holding a press conference outside the Wake County Republican Party convention at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds last week, Democrats condemned Whatley for putting West in a position of authority.

“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?”

The attacks may be especially potent against a candidate who a large share of North Carolinians still know very little about. In a March 31 Catawba-YouGov poll showing Cooper leading Whatley by double digits, 44% of respondents were unsure of their view on the GOP candidate. And twice as many Republicans as Democrats said they do not know who they plan to vote for.

Part of the issue, Woodhouse said, is that Whatley has failed to define himself.

“This is the most anemic statewide race I’ve ever seen,” she said. “His website still has no position statements on it. It has, ‘Donald Trump endorsed me’ and ‘Click here to donate.’”

Whatley drew credible challengers in his primary race despite Trump’s endorsement, including Charlotte attorney Don Brown and former state superintendent candidate Michele Morrow. Whatley received 64% of the vote while Brown received 15%, with nearly 100,000 GOP primary voters casting ballots for him.

For their part, Brown and Morrow have sought to rally their voters to back Whatley in the general election in the wake of the primary, congratulating him on his win on social media and asking their voters to support him.

In an interview, Brown said voters on the campaign trail most frequently expressed anger over high cost of living and a lack of access to medical care. But he predicted his voters would support Whatley when faced with the prospect of Gov. Roy Cooper in the U.S. Senate, which he called an “unthinkable disaster.”

“I think most of my voters are going to be behind Mike,” Brown said. “You may have a few that might hold out, but I think the overwhelming majority are going to be in the Republican camp come fall.”

Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, said a lack of conservative enthusiasm in November could sink Whatley’s campaign.

“It’s not a question of whether the grassroots will support Roy Cooper — they won’t — but the question is whether they’ll just stay home,” he said. “One of the big keys to Republican victory in North Carolina has been that Republican turnout has exceeded Democratic turnout in every year since 2010.”

That pattern reversed itself in the primary elections, when Democrats outvoted Republicans despite Whatley having the more competitive race. Registered Democrats cast nearly 300,000 ballots, while Republicans cast around 200,000. And a majority of the more than 215,000 unaffiliated voters who participated opted to cast a Democratic ballot.

An ominous sign ahead of the midterms, Cooper said, is that party infighting in 2026 has seen the state party’s establishment turn on itself. He pointed to a New York Times report that outgoing U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was among those calling for Berger’s ouster in private fundraising calls.

“Donald Trump is the ultimate anti-establishment candidate, and from that perspective, it’s not surprising that when folks in the party became part of that establishment, some of the same narrative that got them into office might serve to get them out of office,” Cooper said.

Hence then, the article about heading into midterms ncgop faces mounting backlash from its conservative base was published today ( Wednesday 01/04/2026 - 07:12 PM ) and is available on NC news line ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Heading into midterms, NCGOP faces mounting backlash from its conservative base )

Also on site :

• Spain’s FA condemns Islamophobic chants during game with Egypt
• Teenagers wreak havoc in Clapham during Easter holiday ‘link up’
• Politics latest: Starmer to deliver cost of living update after latest Trump tirade over Iran war