CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene’s deadly strike in Western North Carolina, U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley stood before a crowded hall at the Salt & Light Conference in Marion and leaned on faith and President Donald Trump’s backing as he pitched his run for U.S. Senate — even as critics outside accused him of neglecting Helene recovery.

Whatley, who resigned as Republican National Committee chairman in August to launch his Senate bid, told the crowd the storm showed the resilience of mountain communities.

“Exactly 108 deaths, 73,000 homes were damaged, 45,000 small businesses were closed,” he said of Helene. “The people of Western North Carolina are strong. They are resilient. They are full of faith, and our communities responded.”

The event, hosted by the North Carolina Faith & Freedom Coalition, doubled as a rallying point for conservative Christians. Whatley leaned heavily on faith and his close ties to Trump, who tapped him in January as the region’s “recovery czar.” Trump, he reminded the audience, has given him a “complete and total” endorsement for Senate.

“Six weeks ago, I got a third call, and the president said, ‘Michael, I’m sitting here with Vice President JD Vance and Senator Thune,’” Whatley said, referring to John Thune, the Senate majority leader. “’We’re talking about this North Carolina Senate race and we all agree you’re going to run, you’re going to win, and you’re going to do great. So congratulations.’”

Throughout his speech, Whatley urged pastors and churchgoers to enter politics and criticized COVID-19-era shutdowns of churches under his likely Senate opponent and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. He framed his run as a moral mission and a fight between “good and evil.”

“We do not need to have a wall between church and state. We need men and women of faith in office representing us,” Whatley said. “I really think that we need to have a conversation about the faith and the values that Roy Cooper brings to this race and that I bring to this race, because I have found over the course of 30 years in politics, your morals do not get better once you get into office.”

First-time candidate Whatley is likely to face Cooper, who has never lost an election, in 2026.

Whatley also spoke about the recent killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying that in the wake of his death people have told him that Kirk wanted him to run for Senate and wanted to win.

Although Whatley spoke only briefly about Hurricane Helene at the beginning of his roughly 15-minute speech, about a dozen protesters outside the conference marked the storm’s anniversary by pointing to still-damaged homes and roads across the region.

“Not very positively,” said Marion resident Anna Caldwell, 62, when asked how she felt about Whatley speaking in Western North Carolina on the anniversary. “Because he was named the czar of recovery back in January, and we haven’t seen him, and we certainly haven’t seen that he’s been doing anything. I mean, we’ve gotten 10% of our money in 365 days. There’s a lot of people still struggling.”

Some protesters accused Whatley of prioritizing his campaign over helping Western North Carolina.

The North Carolina Democratic Party put out a news release Friday criticizing Whatley and citing The Smoky Mountain News saying he has “rarely, if ever, been visible in Helene’s disaster zone.” The party said federal aid has covered only about 9% of the area’s needs, in contrast to more than 70% aid after storms such as Katrina and Sandy.

“It’s a pretty sad comparison, because, as you remember, people were not singing the government’s praises after Katrina either… It took a long time but they did come through, and eventually were able to get people back to where they needed to be,” Caldwell said. “So it’s a pretty sorry state of affairs that here, a year later, you’re looking at 10% of the funding, people still not in their home, bridges out, roads out.”

The Charlotte Observer reached out to Whatley’s campaign Saturday afternoon with questions about his role as “recovery czar.”

©2025 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.