Michael Whatley Listed Among Politicians Driving Up Costs

The League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund (LCVVF) has named its 2026 “Dirty Dozen” candidates for Congress – and North Carolina’s own Michael Whatley is on the list of shame.

For almost 30 years, the LCV Victory Fund has named 12 federal candidates to their “Dirty Dozen.” The list includes those who have consistently voted and/or lobbied against our environment. This year, the list carries a special theme: unaffordable, dirty energy. 

Dirty Dozen Drives Up Costs

According to LCV’s news release, “Every candidate on this year’s Dirty Dozen has a record, a vote, a lobbying history, or a policy position, that is helping drive up the electricity and heating bills their own constituents pay, whether through blocking or repealing clean energy projects, providing handouts to dirtier and more expensive fuels like oil, coal and gas, or embracing costly data center buildouts without protecting ratepayers from the bill or the pollution.” 

This year’s Dirty Dozen has seven US House members running in competitive contests and five candidates for US Senate. The list includes Michael Whatley, who is running for NC’s open Senate seat against environmental champion Roy Cooper. Here’s what LCV Victory Fund had to say about Whatley: 

“Before chairing the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley spent nearly two decades as a paid energy lobbyist” including “serving as executive vice president of Consumer Energy Alliance, an oil-and-gas-industry group backed by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell.” 

Whatley’s History

As head of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Whatley lobbied hard for passage of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, which repealed most of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits. Whatley was also appointed by Trump in January 2025 to coordinate Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina. In that role, Whatley was noted as missing in action by many mountain residents, who said that “FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] appeals were taking up to 180 days and tens of millions of dollars in aid remained bottlenecked nearly a year later.” 

Cooper’s History

Whatley’s opponent, popular former governor Roy Cooper, received the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund (LCVAF) endorsement for Senate a year ago in September 2025. “We appreciate Roy Cooper’s strong leadership during and after Hurricane Helene,” said NCLCV Executive Director Carrie Clark. “We need someone in Washington who understands the increasing threat extreme weather poses to lives and livelihoods across our state. At the same time, [Cooper] led the creation of North Carolina’s thriving clean energy economy and made us the top state in the country in rural clean energy jobs.” 

Impact on Our State, Our Nation, Our Environment

North Carolina’s US Senate race is expected to be pivotal in determining who runs the Senate for the next two years; either the same corrupt, pro-polluter politicians in charge now, or environmental and democracy champions like Roy Cooper. The future of our nation and our world depend on getting our energy and environmental policies on the right track again. Control of the Senate would go a long way toward that goal.