AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Opponents of former Gov. Roy Cooper call him another rubber stamp for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.<\/p>\n Read more Veteran hedge fund manager Doug Kass says he plans to short SpaceX after record IPO debut<\/a><\/p>\n Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is called by his adversaries a puppet of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Cooper, 68, a Democrat from Raleigh, and Whatley, 57, a Republican from Gastonia, are facing off against one another to succeed Republican Thom Tillis for his seat in the U.S. Senate. And a lot of ink has been spilled about both men and what they say about one another.<\/p>\n But what about their policy positions?<\/p>\n Immediately after winning the Democratic primary, Cooper launched a cross-state \u201cMake Stuff Cost Less\u201d tour<\/a> focusing on five areas of the economy and how he plans to bring relief from rising costs to North Carolinians. His plans are also included on his website.<\/a><\/p>\n Whatley doesn\u2019t make finding his policy positions as easy for the average voter. There was nothing on his website about policy<\/a> until Thursday, after McClatchy inquired about it. That meant voters must catch his speeches or attend his events that aren\u2019t widely publicized. And many of those speeches focus on what he likes about Trump\u2019s policies or opposes about Cooper\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n McClatchy caught up with Whatley last week at a \u201cNo Tax on Tips\u201d roundtable<\/a> he held in Zebulon and asked him for specifics. He said his focus is on safe neighborhoods for children, job creation and support for the military.<\/p>\n McClatchy also asked the teams for both Whatley and Cooper if they wanted to provide further details for this article. Cooper\u2019s team responded.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Whatley insists that prices are down, Roy Cooper knows that\u2019s not true, and he\u2019s running to make stuff cost less, and is the only candidate in this race with real plans to put the middle class back in reach for North Carolinians,\u201d Cooper\u2019s team said in a written statement.<\/p>\n Whatley\u2019s team did not respond.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little late to not have just canned answers ready to go, but that said, I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s going to matter that much in the end,\u201d said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University who tracks North Carolina elections closely (and who is not related to Roy Cooper).<\/p>\n McClatchy rounded up what could be found on their policy positions by examining their events, news releases and interviews. Here\u2019s what we found.<\/p>\n President Bill Clinton\u2019s campaign strategist, James Carville, coined the phrase, \u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid,\u201d and that couldn\u2019t be more true this election cycle.<\/p>\n North Carolinians face gas prices<\/a> that are now 50% higher than in January, and inflation rates that crossed 4% in May<\/a>, the highest level in three years.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration\u2019s reckless war in Iran is driving up costs for American consumers,\u201d Roy Cooper posted on social media, \u201cwith no end in sight. Now, inflation is at a three-year-high, all while (Whatley) has been telling us it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Four days before Trump launched the war in Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has driven costs higher, on top of Trump\u2019s tariffs, Whatley told Fox News that \u201cinflation is way down.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatley told McClatchy in Zebulon that he wants North Carolina families to be able to \u201ctake home more money and keep more money.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that we have policies that are going to create more jobs and better jobs,\u201d Whatley said. \u201cThat people are going to pay less every day when they go through their life, including on taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper has spent the past four months on a statewide tour talking about the economy and the cost of groceries and food, healthcare, energy and utility bills, housing and childcare expenses.<\/p>\n Cooper came out early in his tour to talk about the cost of food and groceries and the impact the economy is having on North Carolina farmers.<\/p>\n In March, at a rally in Raleigh, Cooper addressed his plan to lower prices.<\/p>\n \u201cFixing this problem of food and grocery prices starts at the source: our farmers,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do more to support them and to stop these chaotic tariffs that are making their jobs so much harder.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatley\u2019s campaign told WRAL in November that tariffs<\/a> \u201cwill create jobs, raise wages, expand opportunity, and make our state affordable again.\u201d<\/p>\n But Cooper said \u201cfarmers are getting crushed by tariffs\u201d and that\u2019s raising prices at grocery stores and restaurants.<\/p>\n He offered four steps to lower the costs:<\/p>\n Whatley said in a news release he will fight \u201cfor tax, trade and regulatory policies\u201d that help farmers.<\/p>\n Cooper and Whatley have very different takes on Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill that became law last July 4.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same bill that led Tillis to drop his reelection campaign,<\/a> after he and Trump publicly sparred on social media over the impact the bill would have on North Carolina\u2019s Medicaid recipients. Tillis said more than 660,000 North Carolinians<\/a> would lose coverage if the bill passed.<\/p>\n Whatley worked behind the scenes<\/a> to get North Carolina Republicans to side against Tillis.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Medicaid expansion was one of Cooper\u2019s chief accomplishments during his second term as governor. He pushed expansion for years, and signed it after Republicans agreed, leading to nearly 700,000 new enrollees by the end of 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n But now the future of Medicaid enrollment is uncertain as implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill plays out.<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s platform is very detailed when it comes to cutting costs for healthcare.<\/p>\n Among his goals:<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s economic plan also includes a strategy to lower electric and utility bills. His campaign has noted that electric bills in North Carolina have risen 22% since 2020.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n To combat higher energy costs, Cooper says he would ensure data centers pay the full costs of the power they consume, preventing that costs from being passed to consumers.<\/p>\n Read more How North Carolina scientists are growing a solution to mining\u2019s toxic legacy<\/a><\/p>\n He also wants to encourage large tech companies to build their own energy sources to reduce utility costs for consumers.<\/p>\n Cooper wants to ban utility companies from disconnecting power during dangerous heat or cold. He wants the modernization of energy grids.<\/p>\n In February, Duke Energy requested customers conserve energy<\/u><\/a> because the grid was having a difficult time handling the cold weather.<\/p>\n Whatley added a section to his website this week focused on energy and the economy, saying, \u201cAmerica\u2019s economic strength depends on reliable, affordable energy and reining in Washington\u2019s reckless spending. By practicing fiscal responsibility and unleashing American energy, we can empower American workers, create good-paying jobs, achieve energy independence, and build lasting prosperity for every American.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Cooper and Whatley have policy positions focused on the children of North Carolina.<\/p>\n Whatley told McClatchy he wants to ensure children have safe neighborhoods. He didn\u2019t provide further details and the newspaper wasn\u2019t given the opportunity to follow up with another question at the Zebulon event.<\/p>\n Whatley\u2019s campaign has faced backlash after Asheville Watchdog tied Whatley<\/a><\/u> to Harvey West, who was convicted of sex crimes involving children. West confirmed to WRAL that Whatley appointed him<\/u><\/a> to the North Carolina Republican Party\u2019s powerful Plan of Organization Committee.<\/p>\n West pleaded guilty to 16 counts of indecent liberties with a child, Asheville Watchdog reported. He served six years in prison and had to register as a sex offender, though he no longer is required to.<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s policy positions related to children and families focused on the economy and helping parents cut down on childcare costs.<\/p>\n His plan includes:<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s economic plan also includes attempts to lower housing costs.<\/p>\n Cooper announced he supports building more homes by providing incentives for multi-family and modular construction in order to build housing quicker and lower costs.<\/p>\n He wants to roll back any tariffs driving up construction costs.<\/p>\n He wants to ban algorithm-driven rent setting, in which companies use RealPage and Yardi to collect real-time data from other landlords to set their rent prices.<\/p>\n Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued several landlords<\/u><\/a> for this practice.<\/p>\n Cooper also wants to eliminate what he says are unnecessary rules that drive up housing costs.<\/p>\n Whatley offered two other policy positions focused on the military and public safety.<\/p>\n North Carolina is home to at least 10 military installations, including Fort Bragg, one of the world\u2019s largest, with 50,000 troops and 14,000 civilians who work there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have almost 10% of the U.S. services: Armed Services, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Air Force, that are based here in North Carolina,\u201d Whatley told McClatchy in Zebulon. \u201cWe have 720,000 veterans that call North Carolina home more than any other state in the country, and I want to make sure that we\u2019re supporting them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The N&O was not able to find other details of his military proposals on his website.<\/p>\n Anyone following the Senate campaign would not be shocked that public safety has been a key issue for the Whatley campaign.<\/p>\n Whatley spent much of the year talking about public safety.<\/p>\n He argues against what he calls soft-on-crime policies and for support of law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n This week, Whatley added on his website that he is \u201c100% supportive of President Trump securing the border and deporting the millions of criminal illegal aliens” in the country.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also cited the release of prisoners in North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic to argue that Cooper jeopardized public safety. Cooper\u2019s administration settled with civil rights groups to release prisoners who the groups said were at risk because of the virus.<\/p>\n Among the names on the list tied to that settlement is DeCarlos Brown, a Charlotte man now charged in the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a bus in Charlotte, years after the release. Brown\u2019s inclusion on the list was retroactive, because he was already out of the prison when the settlement was signed.<\/p>\n Whatley has promised his first act in Congress would be to support a federal Iryna\u2019s Law that limits pretrial release for violent offenders and strengthens the ability for involuntary commitment of repeat offenders. Critics of a version of the law that was passed at the state level<\/a> argue it will cause overcrowding, doesn\u2019t do enough to support mental health treatment and may keep more people than necessary behind bars before they\u2019re convicted.<\/p>\n On Thursday he added to his website: \u201cI will stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to restore law and order, roll back dangerous and lenient Democrat policies, back the blue without apology, and put law-abiding North Carolinians first.\u201d<\/p>\n