Another Trip to NC for JD Vance as the Trump-Vance Administration’s Approvals Crater

Trump and Vance’s policies have raised costs for the average North Carolina family by nearly $2,000  — and Michael Whatley has continued to support them

Gas prices in North Carolina sit at $4.13, costing North Carolinians billions extra this year. 

Washington, DC – JD Vance is in North Carolina today with his and Trump’s favorite former Oil and Gas lobbyist Michael Whatley. While North Carolinians are being squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis this administration created, Vance will go on stage to try and sell an agenda that has utterly failed the American people. Gas, groceries, and utility bills are all up, and the whole time, Trump, his cabinet, and his family have been raking in billions. In fact, a recent report from Moody’s Analytics shows Americans’ energy bill has increased $930 per household since Trump started his war of choice in Iran.

It is no surprise that Vance is headlining for Whatley — who was visited by Trump just last week on a trip to North Carolina — since Whatley has made sure to hop on the same train as his party’s leaders. He has taken more than a hundred thousand in donations from Big Oil and Gas this cycle alone, and before that, he was a lobbyist for the very industry now helping bankroll his campaign. It is clear that Republicans know they are doomed in North Carolina, but that won’t stop Trump, Vance, and Whatley from doing what they do best — selling false promises to the American people so that they can continue to line their own pockets. 

REMINDER: This week marks the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, and while North Carolinians are still struggling to recover, Trump just last week threatened to hold FEMA funding hostage if Republicans don’t win — a threat in line with his common practice of basing disaster relief on politics. 

REMINDER: Since Trump took office, household electricity costs in North Carolina have increased by nearly 18%; his war of choice in Iran has raised fuel costs in North Carolina by $666 since the start of the war and raised utility costs in North Carolina by $91 through the first half of 2026. 

Climate Power Director of Accountability Communications Marcus W. Robinson released the following statement: “JD Vance is in Greensboro today to sell Michael Whatley — a former Big Oil lobbyist now cashing checks from the same industry — to voters who can’t afford another rubber stamp for this agenda in the US Senate. Families are already paying more for gas, groceries, and electricity while Trump and his allies line their pockets. And enriching themselves by billions wasn’t enough for them; now they are going to spend the final few weeks before Election Day begging voters to give them another two years of self-enrichment while prices skyrocket uncontrollably. North Carolinians aren’t dumb, and that is why Republicans know they’re losing North Carolina, and no amount of spin changes that.”