If the people of North Carolina elect Roy Cooper to the U.S. Senate, he will be a rubber stamp for the Democrats' soft-on-crime policies nationwide, Michael Whatley told Newsmax on Monday.
Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair and current North Carolina Senate candidate who is expected to face the Democrat Cooper in next year's election, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that he has made "Mugshot Mondays" a key part of his campaign in which a different criminal is highlighted every week who has been released to the streets numerous times.
"Unfortunately, we have so many different criminals to choose from when we talk about people that [have] been arrested and released [in North Carolina] ... on the streets over and over again in [former North Carolina Gov.] Roy Cooper's soft-on-crime policies that we wanted to find a creative way to go ahead and highlight this type of problem."
The Republican candidate stressed that "the highest function of any government is protecting its citizens ... and we have an abject failure here by Roy Cooper at the state level in North Carolina, and the last thing we need to do is to send him up to Washington, where he is going to be a rubber stamp on the Democrats' soft-on-crime policies across the country."
Whatley added that "we don't need that in North Carolina and we don't want that in North Carolina."
He emphasized that for Mugshot Mondays, "this week we are highlighting a guy ... who had been arrested 70 different times ... and there is just story after story to tell with these types of criminals, because Roy Cooper wanted to reimagine law enforcement in North Carolina and really, truly created the push that led to soft-on-crime policies."
Whatley said that Trump's endorsement of him will help in the general election, because the president "won the state three different times and the people support his policies — rebuilding the economy, restoring our borders, keeping our kids and our communities safe, and making sure that we are respected around the world.
"That is the platform that I am running on ... North Carolina does not need a rubber stamp for the Chuck Schumer/Bernie Sanders regime in the Senate right now."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.