As western North Carolina continues to recover from Hurricane Helene, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley is facing new scrutiny after saying he wants to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency, despite helping lead the federal council tasked with recommending reforms to the agency.
At a campaign event in May, Whatley said he had urged President Trump to eliminate FEMA and claimed he wrote that recommendation into the FEMA Review Council’s final report. The report does not recommend abolishing FEMA. Instead, it proposes significant structural changes to the agency. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the recommendations are intended to create “a streamlined, mission-focused agency that delivers results.”
Whatley’s comments come as communities across western North Carolina continue waiting for disaster assistance. President Trump appointed Whatley to help oversee Hurricane Helene recovery, yet many communities are still waiting for the federal support they were promised.
At a recent C.A.R.E. press conference in Boone, Mayor Dalton George said, “Leadership isn’t measured by press releases. It’s measured by presence. Michael Whatley was nowhere to be seen when Western North Carolina needed him most.”
North Carolina League of Conservation Voters Senior Director of Public Affairs Dan Crawford warned that Whatley’s recommendations “will leave communities even more vulnerable to increasing extreme weather and make recovery more expensive.”
Crawford also criticized Whatley’s support for privatizing flood insurance while Whatley and his family hold more than $190,000 in investments tied to private flood insurance companies.
Questions about Whatley’s handling of Hurricane Helene recovery continued during a recent campaign stop in Waynesville, where organizers called police on an Asheville Citizen-Times reporter before town officials determined the event was being held in a public facility and the reporter should be allowed to attend. Whatley did not mention Hurricane Helene during his remarks or take questions from reporters.
As western North Carolina continues rebuilding, communities are still waiting for the leadership and federal support they were promised nearly two years after Hurricane Helene.
