Michael Whatley, the “America First” Republican candidate running for Senate in North Carolina, spent hundreds on campaign merchandise that was made in China.
Whatley, who has taken a tough-on-China stance throughout his political career, has been giving away campaign-branded drink koozies that were manufactured overseas, the Daily Beast has learned.
Filings from the Federal Election Commission show that Whatley’s campaign spent $1,628.84 on “ Cups, Koozies, Napkins” earlier this year.
Images of the koozies obtained by the Daily Beast show tags saying they were “Made in China.”
While it is not uncommon for merchandise like this to be made cheaply overseas, Whatley, and many MAGA Republicans have made bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. a core component of their policy platforms.
Whatley, the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, has taken a particularly strong stance against China.
In 2021, when Whatley was still the chairman of the North Carolina GOP, he said that through Trump’s “America first agenda,” the Republican Party has been “tough on China,” in a way that is “making sure that our economic policies are creating jobs for the working class Americans across the board.”
During the 2024 presidential election, Whatley expressed support for Trump’s presidential campaign promises have promised to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
“We don’t need to service the rest of the world. What we need to do is build, and we need to grow, and we need to lead the rest of the world. And I think that among the many big differences between President Trump and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, this is a fundamental worldview where he is going to work every single day to make sure that America’s going to be strong,” he said at the time. “And we have to be a manufacturing country. We have to have a manufacturing renaissance in order to get that done.”
He’s shown strong support for President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies and on-and-off tariffs placed on China.
“So the president’s plan is absolutely working. And you have to look at tariffs as not just in a vacuum. You have to look at it as part of his overall plan to rebuild our manufacturing capacity here in the United States,” Whatley said in 2025.
When reached for comment by the Daily Beast, Whatley’s campaign spokesperson, DJ Griffin, attacked Whatley’s opponent, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and said Cooper “sold North Carolina families out the tune of a more than $32 million tax break to a solar company owned by the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Cooper continues to put his Green New Deal agenda ahead of North Carolina families as energy rates continue to rise thanks to his failed energy policies. As North Carolina’s Senator Michael Whatley will continue to fight for North Carolina families and always put them first not the Chinese Communist Party,” the statement continued.
Trump, for his part, has only praised Whatley in his Senate run, calling him an “America First Patriot,” who will “Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A.”
“The reason I’m running for this race is because President Trump asked me to run in this race,” Whatley said last year. “I am honored to have his endorsement, and I’m going to fight for the America First agenda that he campaigned on and won on in 2024.”
