On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene’s deadly strike in Western North Carolina, Republican Michael Whatley stood before a crowded hall at the Salt & Light Conference in Marion and pitched his run for U.S. Senate — even as critics outside accused him of neglecting Helene recovery.
The event, hosted by the North Carolina Faith & Freedom Coalition, doubled as a rallying point for conservative Christians. The Salt & Light Conference has previously made headlines for hosting former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who used the event to promote Christian Nationalist views, such as his belief that school shootings should be attributed to a lack of Christian prayer in schools. Michael Whatley participated in at least one of these events with Robinson.
This year, Whatley spoke on faith and his close ties to Trump, who tapped him in January to oversee Hurricane Helene recovery in Western North Carolina. In addition to Trump naming him “recovery czar,” Whatley is a member of Trump’s FEMA Review Council, which has come under fire for delaying relief to North Carolinians.
In recent weeks, Whatley has claimed that recovery efforts are “going really well.” However, residents of Western North Carolina tell a different story.
Business owners and residents have said that Whatley has rarely been seen in impacted areas, and over 100 residents have requested that Whatley be removed from the FEMA council for not delivering on his promises to help the area. North Carolina has received only roughly 9% of the funding needed to recover from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene.
Though 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.”
