GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA — President Donald Trump held a campaign rally at the Gastonia municipal airport in North Carolina on Wednesday to support Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley. Whatley is running against Democratic former governor Roy Cooper. He said he was not bragging but that Republicans have always done really well when he is on the ticket. He said he wanted voters to go out and pretend he was on the ticket, because essentially he was.

Trump spoke for an hour during the event. He urged voters to "crush the communists" in the November elections. He described Whatley as a "ball-breaker" and "one of the greatest men I ever worked with in government." He said he had his choice of the whole country and chose Michael Whatley. Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair, praised Trump as the "greatest president of our lifetime."

He cast the contest as a referendum on Cooper’s governorship, arguing the election was about "safety" and "bad management." He claimed Cooper was a radical aligned with his party’s left wing, saying Cooper tries to pretend he is a moderate but is not. He said Whatley was the "candidate of law and order" who preferred that criminals be "executed, arrested or deported." He invoked the killing of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee fatally stabbed on a Charlotte light rail train last year. He called Cooper a murderer protector and likened his playbook to the Willie Horton ad from George HW Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign.

He said years ago in Massachusetts there was a governor named Dukakis, Michael Dukakis, who had a very substantial lead for president and was going to win easily, but he allowed a man named Willie Horton out of jail. He said Willie Horton was a bad guy, really bad guy, and that the same thing was happening now. State corrections officials stated that Decarlos Brown Jr. was not released early from prison or under a COVID-era prisoner-release settlement, but was released in connection with a misdemeanor case by a magistrate's order after Roy Cooper left office.

Democratic state senator Woodson Bradley criticized Whatley’s positions during a news conference. Bradley said, "Why would Whatley back a war that is driving up prices for North Carolina families at a time when it’s already too hard for us to get by? Let’s not find that out, North Carolina. He’s already shown us everything we need to know." He also addressed economic issues, calling the Federal Reserve "very hostile" to him and saying its officials were a "bunch of politicians." He said they were doing the wrong thing, repeating several times that interest rates were "too high." The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday.

Polls have consistently shown Roy Cooper ahead of Michael Whatley in the race. Democrats have not won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008.

What's New

Additional reporting provided further details on the event's timing and context. The event occurred on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at the Gastonia Municipal Airport in Gastonia, North Carolina. The event was held on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, and was part of Trump's efforts to support Michael Whatley's Senate campaign. Research titled "The Disruptive Campaign of Donald J. Trump" was published in 2021 in The Unorthodox Presidency of Donald J. Trump. The event took place at the Gastonia Municipal Airport, and Trump criticized Roy Cooper during the rally.

Historical electoral data and candidate background were also showed in later reports. Trump won North Carolina by about 3.3 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. The event was held at the Gastonia Municipal Airport, and Trump spoke for an hour during the rally. Michael Whatley served as chair of the North Carolina Republican Party from 2019 to 2024. FBI data for 2024 ranked North Carolina 19th among the 50 states for its violent-crime rate.

Why It Matters

The rally focuses attention on the North Carolina Senate race, where polls have consistently shown Roy Cooper ahead of Michael Whatley. The contest represents a challenge for Republicans in a state where Democrats have not won a Senate race since 2008. His involvement signals an effort to leverage his base to overcome the polling deficit.

Crime and public safety emerged as central themes, with him linking local incidents to broader governance critiques. By invoking specific cases and historical political ads, he aimed to frame the election as a choice between law and order and what he characterized as radical policies, while critics like Woodson Bradley focused on economic impacts and foreign policy alignments.