Major Democrat PAC Features Activist With Ties To Duke Energy In Anti-Duke Advertisement

WinSenate, a major Super PAC supporting Senate Democrats, ran a television advertisement attacking Whatley for his ties to Duke Energy, with an official with deep ties to Duke Energy. The ad’s star is star is a senior official with Patriotic Millionaires— a group chaired by a former executive from BlackRock, Duke’s largest shareholder. 

This is yet another example of hypocrisy coming from Cooper and his allies about attack on Whatley’s connection to Duke Energy.  

Here are some of the connections that Cooper has to Duke Energy: 

• Through his investment vehicles, Cooper himself owns Duke Energy stock. 

• He has taken more than $440K from Duke Energy and its executives, including 10K from their PAC this cycle and 360K to the DGA while Cooper was Chair. 

• Cooper oversaw a “revolving door” between his staff and Duke Energy, including a senior advisor who lobbied for Duke Energy while Cooper was Governor.  

• Cooper’s own appointees locked in multi-year Duke Energy rate hikes that are still hurting North Carolinians.  

• When the Democrat Convention was held in Charlotte, Duke Energy provided a $10 million line of credit that the company later forgave.  

Patriotic Millionaires highlights the fundamental hypocrisy on the left:  

• The group wants to tax the rich, but seem to not understand that Roy Cooper is himself a multimillionaire after four decades as an elected official.  

• The group wants to end Citizens United, but the star of the WinSenate ad is appearing in a Super PAC ad. 

• Patriotic Millionaires  sponsored a No Kings protest which resulted in a riot in Charlotte. But they apparently have no problem with Cooper’s abuse of emergency powers during the pandemic.  

Jacob Brooks is the North Carolina Director for Patriotic Millionaires. Patriotic Millionaire’s chair, Morris Pearl, is a former Blackrock Executive. BlackRock owns roughly 9% of Duke Energy—its largest shareholder.