Politics

At a campaign stop in Edneyville, Whatley vows to work for farmers

Michael Whatley told Henderson County farmers he agreed with their concerns over migrant farm labor. [KEVYN CARTER-LONG]

By KEVYN CARTER-LONG, Published: July 21, 2026

Like walking in a parade or pitching themselves to the public in a 30-second TV spot, milling around a barn with apple growers is a time-honored tradition in local politics.

It’s as sure as freshly picked galas, romes and Granny Smiths and fried apple pies this time of year in Henderson County, the No. 1 apple-growing county in the state.

Apple, pear and berry farmers gathered at the Laughter family’s Pilot Mountain Pears in Edneyville on Saturday to hear from Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee in the closely watched contest with former Gov. Roy Cooper for the U.S. Senate seat that became open when incumbent Thom Tillis announced his retirement.

“Agriculture is the No. 1 sector of North Carolina’s economy for $111 billion per year,” Whatley told the farmers. “If you succeed, this state succeeds, and if you don’t, North Carolina does not.”

Whatley served as a senior Department of Energy official in the Bush administration and chief of staff for Senator Elizabeth Dole and ran President Trump’s agriculture team in the 2016 campaign. Most recently, Whatley was recruited by Trump to serve as chair of the Republican National Committee.

Michael Whatley poses with Pilot Mountain Pears owners Beth and David Laughter. [KEVYN CARTER-LONG]“I have been working on agricultural issues for a long time,” he told the growers. “I met the North Carolina Farm Bureau back in 2003 to 2004 when I was with Elizabeth Dole and we were working on the tobacco-buyout bill, which ended up putting back billions of dollars directly into North Carolina communities across the state.”

“I want to make sure that I’m meeting as many farms, farmers, agricultural groups, stakeholders as I possibly can around the state,” he said, boasting that the visit to the Pilot Mountain orchard was his 26th ag-themed campaign stop.

“We’re going to do a bunch more over the course of the next four months, and I really think it’s going to be very important for you to have a champion in the United States Senate,” he said.

The weight of this upcoming Senate race is not something Whatley takes lightly. One the purplest states in the country — with voter registration that’s 30% Democrat, 30% Republican and 40% unaffiliated — North Carolina is projected to be the site of the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history.

“And that’s why I spent my time going out to all 100 counties and having conversations with people that really matter,” Whatley said.

Henderson County farmers wanted to hear the candidate’s thoughts on the H-2A visa program for farmworkers and his position on the Securing Agricultural Workforce Act, an H-2A reform that would extend visa access for up to 350 days, loosening the rigidity of “seasonal” work.

“We got to fix it,” Whatley said. “We need a worker program that works.”

Looking at “our construction folks in North Carolina, our ag folks in North Carolina, we need to get the workers in, and we have to figure out a proper process,” he said. “I’ve had this conversation with President Trump, and I’ve had this conversation with ag leaders around the country. We have got to figure out how we’re going to have common sense reform that is going to allow this H2A program to work.”

Whatley vowed to work in Washington on legislation that would ensure family farms endure.

“The most effective way, by far, to keep people in farms, to make sure that the next generation is going to take over the farm, is to make a profit,” he said.