[Editor’s note: This column includes references to an alleged sexual assault. If you need to report an assault, help is available on the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.]
In North Carolina, as in most of the country, the price of most grocery items is up, garishly so. North Carolinians are getting killed in the Middle East, fighting in a war that most Americans don’t want. Data centers are upsetting urban and rural communities alike because of the potential impacts on power bills and the water supply. Some areas impacted by Helene in NC are waiting for federal relief that was promised but not delivered.
Most people in North Carolina are struggling with something.
But Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate running to represent North Carolina in the US Senate—one of the most powerful chambers in the country—isn’t talking about that right now. On his social media accounts Tuesday, he posted a photo of an unidentified person who Whatley implies is a transgender educator working at a NC school.
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The picture is innocuous. It appears to be a trans woman, wearing a blouse and skirt, joking around with a friend. It looks lifted from someone’s private social media account.
But Whatley—a desperate candidate who’s trailing in the polls—wants us to see something much more sinister.
“We cannot allow men in high heels and skirts to indoctrinate North Carolina’s children,” Whatley wrote.
And because this is partisan politics, the kind that most people hate, Whatley tries to draw a connection between this person and the Democrat running against him, Roy Cooper, even though there isn’t one.
A seat in the US Senate is one of the single most powerful positions in the United States. It’s one of 100 votes with the power to set the national agenda on healthcare, the economy, military conflicts, and more.
With just three months to go until the midterm elections, Whatley could be making his case for why North Carolina should put him there, what he can do to make life easier, more joyful, more productive and free for the 11.2 million people who live here.
He could be answering questions about the slow rollout of federal funds after Helene hit western NC in 2024, or why Whatley—who once bragged about and then abandoned the “recovery czar” title gifted him by President Trump—shouldn’t be held accountable for that.
He could be defending himself against the Democratic-aligned group that’s spending millions right now to broadcast his connection to Harvey West Jr., a former Outer Banks police officer who, in 2000, was charged with the statutory rape of three minors. When Whatley was the head of the NC GOP, he appointed West multiple times to a key Republican committee even though party leadership knew about West’s convictions.
Whatley could be telling us why all these criticisms of him aren’t fair. But he’s not.
Instead, he’s focused on voyeurism and cruelty. The apparent indifference to the actual things going on with his constituents is astonishing.
But Whatley isn’t alone in his obliviousness.
Days ago, Rep. Erin Paré, a Republican who represents Wake County in the NC General Assembly, drew some similar conclusions about trans people teaching in schools, suggesting—grotesquely—that perhaps the government should be regulating what trans teachers wear.
A conservative columnist who writes for NC’s McClatchy newspapers called it “a profile in political courage” on his blog, as if there is bravery in a powerful politician picking on one of the most oppressed groups of people on the planet.
In North Carolina, a culturally conservative state that has yet to wrap its head around transgender people, this stuff might win you votes. But it surely won’t win anyone a better life.
The Grand Ole’ Party, with candidates like Michael Whatley and Erin Paré, is waist-deep in the sewers, fighting a culture war that we’re tired of.
Even if you believe that there is something inherently wrong about trans people—and it’s past time for us to put such bigotry away—cruelly singling out a trans teacher in NC won’t help you see a doctor, send your kids to a good school or pay for ground beef.
By all accounts, the teacher who Republicans are ambushing in NC is respected and beloved in their community.
But this version of the Republican Party—the same version that gave us embarrassing candidates like Mark Robinson—believes that inciting paranoia and fear is something to be proud of, or that it is reasonable to equate sexual perversion or pedophilia with being transgender.
It is not.
This version of the Republican Party thinks that offensive, non-sequitur attacks are more important than answering the questions North Carolinians should ask anyone running for one of the most powerful offices in our state.
This version of the Republican Party needs to be put to bed for good. The sooner, the better.
