A Republican Senate candidate got caught doing something embarrassing this week.
The Daily Beast reported on a gaffe by Michael Whatley, a Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina who is far behind former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in the polls.
“A Confederate flag was displayed front and center at a campaign event for a Trump-endorsed candidate before someone hastily tried to scrub it from the record,” the Beast reported. It happened last week at Henderson County GOP headquarters.
“In a Facebook post this month, the group shared several photos from the event, including one showing a woman smiling next to the Confederate flag and holding a Whatley campaign sign reading ‘Protect Our Families,'” the report said.
Racist, Trump-endorsed North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley was busted scrubbing a Confederate flag from his campaign event. The botched photoshop attempt has only made the controversy all the more humiliating for a must-win MAGA candidate. https://t.co/bO2p8i2v3g
— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) October 22, 2026
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“The post was captioned ‘Proud Supporter,’ according to screenshots obtained by The Daily Beast. But the Henderson County GOP later removed the photo and replaced it with the same image, this time with the Confederate flag shoddily photoshopped out.”
Whatley, a former RNC chairman, was also spotted at the event, “smiling as he strides past the flag.”
Cooper’s campaign shared the before-and-after photos:
BREAKING: Michael Whatley campaigned alongside the Confederate flag last week — and county GOP officials tried to cover it up.
Whatley was pictured striding past the flag, which was later photoshopped out of the county party’s post. https://t.co/exDnnBllEs
— Team Roy Cooper (@TeamCooperNC) October 22, 2026
It was just the latest gaffe for Whatley’s floundering campaign.
“Whatley’s campaign has been mired in other controversies. Last month, he held a campaign event in New Bern, North Carolina, alongside Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The event opened with a prayer from registered sex offender Pastor Daimon L. King, who was convicted of both rape and incest,” the Daily Beast reported.
