Letter to the editor: Roy Cooper will fight for you

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 10.08.26

On Sept. 16, Donald Trump stumped in Gastonia, North Carolina using lies, insults and threats.

“Nobody used to think of North Carolina as a dangerous state, criminally dangerous ... now it’s one of the most violent and one of the worst in the whole nation,” Trump charged.

He hoped to smear the Democratic senate nominee, former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper, who has never lost an election in four decades of public service to NC. But Trump’s claim was so baseless and insulting that even FOX Carolina felt compelled to debunk it.

“Despite recent rhetoric from President Donald Trump calling North Carolina ‘one of the most violent’ states,” FOX wrote, “official data tells a very different story.” In fact, FOX reported, NC’s violent crime rate is “below the national average.” FOX also noted that crime in NC has fallen across nearly every major category in 2026 under current Democratic Governor Josh Stein.

Trump then brought up NC’s ongoing recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene’s devastation. “You know, you’re waiting for some additional funding,” Trump began, adding that, if Republican candidate Michael Whatley loses, “I’m not sending it.”

Trump quickly claimed it was a joke, but he has a record of weaponizing federal disaster aid. After February’s blizzard, Trump denied aid to Democratic-led states NY, NJ, MA and RI, just two days after granting aid to six Republican-led states.

Republicans are stuck with Whatley, who has never held elective office, because Sen. Tillis retired after opposing Trump’s legislation that Tillis said would kick 663,000 North Carolinians off Medicaid. Whatley spent decades lobbying for Duke Energy, owns up to $445,000 of Duke stock, and said nothing when Duke proposed an 18% rate hike — Cooper called it “just plain wrong.”

Trump smeared us, cut our healthcare and treated our vital disaster relief as a joke. We need a fighter in Washington who will stand up to Trump’s petty vindictiveness. Reject Trump’s hand-picked lackey — send Roy Cooper to the Senate.

L. McGann

Leland