Michael Whatley Tours Tobacco Processing Facility And Holds Rally In Wilson, North Carolina

Yesterday, Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley toured Alliance One’s tobacco processing facility in Wilson, alongside company leadership and tobacco farmers in the area. Afterwards, he stopped by Parker’s Barbecue for a get out the vote rally.  

“Our farmers need a fighter in the Senate who will stand up for their values and for their farms. Roy Cooper made life harder for family farms across our state. His relentless push for more taxes, more regulation, and higher input costs have made it harder for our family farms to make ends meet. As your next Senator, I will always stand for our farmers to help make North Carolina the best state in the nation for agriculture,” said Michael Whatley. 

In addition to his tour of the tobacco processing facility, Whatley stopped by the legendary Parker’s Barbecue in Wilson for a get out the vote rally with North Carolina State Senator Buck Newton.  

At the rally Whatley said, “We've been to all 100 counties. We're talking to people in the mountains, the coast. We're talking to people in the big cities. Importantly, we're talking to people on the farms. Everywhere I go, I'm hearing two things over and over and over again.  People want safe kids in communities. And people want to make more and keep more of their own money. And my opponent, Roy Cooper, was terrible on both of them.” 

At the event, the Blue Ridge Times asked, “The General Assembly came back to pass a temporary suspension of the gas tax to help North Carolinians at the pump. Can you talk about Republican’s plan to help lower gas prices, and how that contrast with Democrats’ record on energy?”  

Sen. Buck Newton said, “We're in a difficult situation. There's no doubt.  The Democrats have helped put us in this position over a long period of time by trying to stop energy exploration, by trying to put everything into the Green New Deal. That's a short version of it. (0:44) We fought this with Cooper back when I was in the legislature before.  So we are where we are today. And the reason we passed that yesterday is because that's something that we can do now to bring some immediate relief.” 

Whatley added, “Yeah, and I think, you know, when we talk about energy policy writ large on gas prices and diesel prices, you've got to get the price per oil down.  The price per barrel of oil. 

(1:06) Because there's historically a direct peg between gasoline prices and oil prices and diesel prices. (1:12) So you've got to be able to bring those down. And it's really important to know the Democratic plan is to shut down domestic production.”