North Carolina GOP Edits Confederate Flag Out of Trump-Backed Senate Candidate's Campaign Photo
Key Takeaways
- •The Henderson County Republican Party deleted and replaced a Facebook photo from Michael Whatley's October 12 campaign event with an edited version that removed a prominently displayed Confederate flag.
- •Other photographs and video show Whatley walking past the flag and smiling, but the extent of his or his team's involvement in the edit remains unclear.
- •An Elon University poll released this week shows Democrat Roy Cooper leading Whatley 52% to 39% among likely voters in the race for the seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis.
- •The flag episode follows another campaign stumble last month, when a registered sex offender delivered the opening prayer at a Whatley gathering in New Bern despite the campaign's denial of organizing the event.
- •The altered photograph has handed Democrats a fresh line of attack as Whatley trails in the polls heading toward Election Day in November 2026.
A local Republican Party organization in North Carolina is facing an embarrassing controversy after attempting to digitally remove a Confederate flag from a photograph taken at a campaign event for Michael Whatley, President Donald Trump's handpicked candidate in one of the most closely watched Senate races of the 2026 midterms.
Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is running for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. He appeared at the Henderson County Republican Party headquarters on October 12. Photos posted by the local party showed a Confederate flag prominently displayed in the room.
According to The Daily Beast, one image captured a smiling woman holding a sign for Whatley that read "Protect Our Families." The county GOP shared the photo on Facebook with the caption "Proud Supporter."
The post was later deleted, and an edited version of the photo — with the flag removed — was published in its place.
The cleanup attempt drew more attention to the image rather than less. Other photographs and video from the gathering show Whatley walking past the flag and smiling as he moved through the room. It remains unclear how much Whatley or his team was involved, and the Henderson County GOP has since removed the image from its Facebook page.
The Anti-Defamation League notes that the Confederate flag is embraced by white supremacists, although some supporters of the banner argue that it is a symbol of Southern heritage. The Confederacy fought the Union in the Civil War, in part to preserve slavery.
The episode lands at a difficult moment for Whatley, who is among the Trump-aligned candidates battling for power in a tough election campaign against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a two-term governor, in a state Trump carried in 2024. An Elon University poll released earlier this week showed the Democrat leading Whatley 52% to 39% among likely voters, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
The flag controversy is not the only stumble to plague Whatley's campaign. Last month, a registered sex offender delivered the opening prayer at a separate campaign gathering in New Bern. His campaign denied organizing the event or inviting the guests, but The Daily Beast reported that promotional materials and Whatley's own remarks appeared to contradict that explanation.
Trump campaigned for Whatley this week, though at one point he seemingly miscommunicated his support. "It's crazy, you're going to send him to Washington to represent you," Trump told supporters, referring to Cooper.
With Whatley already lagging behind in the polls, the altered photograph has handed Democrats a fresh line of attack heading toward Election Day in November 2026.
