It’s one week from Election Day, and the final polls show the race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris is a toss-up. One way the chair of the national Republican Party would like to give his party the edge is by even more openly embracing religion, even if it seems like the GOP already has.
Michael Whatley became chair of the national GOP in March after serving five years as the chair of the North Carolina state Republican Party. His push to make the GOP "the party of faith" is the subject of a recent story in the Assembly. Reporter Tim Funk, who wrote the story, joins me now.
Marshall Terry: So first, a little background for those who are unfamiliar with him. Just who is Michael Whatley, and how did he end up the national chair for the GOP?
Tim Funk: Michael Whatley, who's now 56, is a native North Carolinian. He grew up in Watauga County and now lives in Gastonia. From his earliest days, he's shown an interest in both politics and religion. In high school, he was a volunteer for the Jesse Helms campaign, and he has two master's degrees in religion/theology from Wake Forest and Notre Dame. He became a lawyer, and he has long had one foot in national politics and the other in the North Carolina GOP.
So how did he get to be national GOP chair? Well, he caught Donald Trump's eye early on. First, I think because of his success as state Republican chairman here. He won two U.S. Senate seats here; flipped the state Supreme Court from Democratic to GOP control; and in 2020, while Trump was losing all the other battleground states, he eked out a victory in North Carolina under Whatley's watch. Mostly though, I think it was Whatley's decision to echo Trump's false claims about the 2020 election that cemented the deal.
Terry: Now, as I said in the intro, Whatley wants the Republican Party to even more openly embrace religion than it does now. In your story, you talk a lot about how Whatley has had to reconcile his push that the GOP is the party of the faithful with some of the actions of top Republican candidates this fall. They include accusations that North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson frequented a porn store and website; and state school superintendent candidate Michele Morrow called for the execution of some leaders, including former President Obama. And, of course, accusations that former President Trump, who hawks Trump-branded Bibles is not the Christian he claims to be. Just how has Whatley been walking that line?
Funk: Well, like a lot of Christians who support Trump, Whatley tries to steer the conversation away from Trump's personal behavior — like his predatory history toward women, for example — and focus instead on how Trump as president, delivered on issues important to many white evangelicals. The prime example, of course, is that Trump named three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who were instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade.
This year, when The Assembly asked him about Trump's harsh language and his lying, Whatley widely tried to change the subject. He and many evangelical supporters prefer to focus on how Trump, again, for example, will keep people who identify as transgender off of girls' sports teams and out of women's locker rooms.
Whatley's take on Mark Robinson, though, is very different. A few years ago, Whatley traveled the state with Robinson. They had a series of big lunches with 3,000-plus pastors. At the time, Whatley called Robinson, "a man of tremendous faith." But after the stories that Robinson frequented porn shops and sites and allegedly claimed to be a "black Nazi," Whatley told The Assembly that the things Robinson has been accused of are antithetical to Republican values. And now he and Trump, who had also embraced Robinson, don't mention the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina.
Terry: So is Whatley's approach working? How are Republican voters responding?
Funk: Well, it depends on the group of voters. I mean, white evangelicals are still 82% for Trump, according to Pew. There is a growing number of evangelicals who are bolting. There's actually a group called Evangelicals for Harris that are spending a million dollars on a digital ad that has Billy Graham — who's the most famous evangelist ever of North Carolina — having (Graham) talk about attributes that Christians to stay away from, like greed and lust and everything. And then they show videos of Trump boasting about his wealth and bragging about using his celebrity to grab and kiss women impulsively that he's attracted to. So there is some evangelicals who are saying, we just can't put up with this behavior.
David French, who's a New York Times columnist who's a conservative Christian, a former pro-life lawyer, wrote a very widely quoted column saying, for the first time in his life, he's voting for a Democratic candidate for president, because he said he just couldn't put up with all the lies that Trump was telling on the stump.
Terry: Tim, you've covered religion and politics for a long time, writing about it for The Charlotte Observer for more than three decades. Why is there this push now for some politicians to more openly embrace religion? It seems in the past it was a more subtle and delicate dance they performed, even as the GOP openly courted evangelicals.
Funk: Political candidates go where the votes are. And so Trump, for example, recently had a rally in Concord for people of faith. In Republican circles, that mostly means white evangelicals. And Franklin Graham, whose family is royalty among evangelicals, was there to offer a prayer — as well as his support for Trump.
It's important to point out that this is not just a Republican thing. Democrats always visit Black churches close to election time. Recently, Kamala Harris was in Greenville, N.C., where she greeted congregates at a Black church as part of the "Souls (to) the Polls" early voting effort.
On the Republican side, white evangelicals have been a key part of the GOP coalition since 1980, when Rev. Jerry Falwell got his group, the Moral Majority to promote Ronald Reagan. But you're right, I think that devotion to the GOP seems to have ratcheted up under Trump, who, as I said, is supported by 82% of white evangelicals, according to Pew. I think these churchgoers have been disappointed in some past Republican presidents like George W. Bush, who was a fellow born-again Christian. This group was initially suspicious of Trump in 2016 because of his lifestyle and coarseness, but they feel like once in office he knew what levers to pull to deliver on their agenda. He may not be one of us, in other words, but he knows how to get us what we want.
Terry: All right, Tim. Thank you for joining me.
