Michael Whatley

Michael Whatley (born 1968 or 1969) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as chair of the Republican National Committee since March 2024. Before this, he was chair of the North Carolina Republican Party for five years, the last year of which he also served as the RNC's general counsel.

Early life
Whatley is from Watauga County, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a bachelor's degree in history and from Wake Forest University with a master's degree in religion, dissertation on: "Cardinal Richelieu: Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.” In 1997, he earned a Juris Doctor degree and a master's degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame.

Whatley began working in Republican Party politics when he volunteered on the 1984 reelection campaign of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms while he was a sophomore at Watauga High School.

Career
In 2000, Whatley was a member of George W. Bush's team pursuing the Florida recount. He served in the United States Department of Energy during the presidency of George W. Bush. Whatley was chief of staff for Elizabeth Dole when she served in the U.S. Senate. He was an executive vice president for the Consumer Energy Alliance from 2008 to 2019, while he was a partner at lobbying firm HBW Resources.

In June 2019, the North Carolina Republican Party selected Whatley to succeed Robin Hayes as their chair. Whatley was closely involved in President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, including participating in the December 2020 phone call on which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the votes he needed to win the state.

Following the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, Whatley refused to blame Trump, saying that only those who participated in the riots bear responsibility. In February 2021, Whatley said, "We certainly saw evidence of voting irregularities, of election counting irregularities in a number of places around the country", and that the reason Trump won North Carolina was his state party's vigilance against Democrats' attempts to cheat. Also in February 2021, the state party voted unanimously to censure Senator Richard Burr for voting to convict President Trump during his second impeachment.

The Republican National Committee appointed Whatley as its general counsel in February 2023. In February 2024, Donald Trump endorsed Whatley to replace Ronna McDaniel as chair of the RNC. In March 2024, Whatley was elected as the new chair of the RNC, along with Lara Trump as his co-chair. Per the North Carolina party's 2022 plan of organization, its vice chair (Susan Mills) served as state chair until a successor was elected.