RALEY, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina and beyond Republicans are working together to turn the stinging deaths of Ukrainian women into political responsibility on Charlotte commuter trains Former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper He bid to win Important US Senate Race It’s still more than a year away.
GOP candidate Michael Whatley The Cooper Bears say “direct responsibility” for fatal people Attack on Iryna Zarutska on August 22 He is for a committee he created in June 2020 to address racial inequality in the criminal justice system. The panel’s announcement occurred a few weeks later George Floyd’s death In the hands of Minneapolis police.
But whatley, the Republican National Committee Chairman, recently said he was lying about the task force, according to Cooper’s campaign. Cooper “knows that North Carolinians need to be safe in their communities,” the campaign wrote in a statement, and his career includes “keeping thousands of criminals on the streets and behind bars.” Cooper cites signing the 2023 law, which strengthened pretrial release rules.
The clash sends an early signal of how hot the race in the North Carolina Senate is. It is already expected to be a 2026 Senate race for Democrats, who are trying to assert a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections, and could now be one of the most expensive Senate campaigns in US history.
Democrats see the popular former governor’s bid for the publicly released North Carolina seat as one of the best pick-up opportunities in the landscape that has a huge support for Republicans. You will need four Senate seats to claim a majority.
A tragic flash point appears
Both candidates express their sadness over the death of 23-year-old Zaltoska, who was caught in a horrifying attack on camera. But that’s the rage of the masses There is suspicion of DeCarlos Brown Jr. He had been arrested more than dozens of times before, but was recently released on claims without a lawsuit urging accusations by Whatley and allies that Cooper had promoted a soft crime policy.
“It’s very easy. Voting for Roy Cooper is a vote for more crime, violence, more criminals,” Whatley said in the first few days after the release of the surveillance video.
Cooper pushed him back violently.
“I am the Attorney General and Governor, and I dedicated my career to keeping violent criminals behind bars and staying there,” Cooper, who was the state attorney general eight years ago, wrote about X.
“Only an ironic DC insider would think it’s acceptable to use her death on a political point,” he said in X.
More Republicans quickly rang out on social media. Vice President JDVance and Trump posted, “Her blood is in the hands of Democrats,” specifically named them Cooper.
Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at West Carolina University, said the murders neatly fit Trump’s harsh crime agenda in big cities, and Whatley gave him a clear opening.
“People don’t know who he is. He doesn’t have a high name recognition,” said Cooper, who has no connection to the former governor. “So he’s trying to define himself for the North Carolinians and redefine Roy Cooper.”
Two famous candidates are square
Both Cooper and Wailey raced this summer within weeks of GOP Senator Tom Tillis’s announcement. I don’t seek reelection. Cooper was always considered Potential Senate candidates In 2026, Whatley announced when the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, refused to jump in.
With no other well-known candidates currently in the race, it seems unlikely that the party’s primary will head towards the general election fight for Cooper Worley.
Some experts believe that spending on next year’s race could reach $1 billion, and that it would be blown away by more than $515.5 million overall. US Senate race in Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won the leak in 2020, according to Open Secrets’ data, which tracks political spending.
The campaign pits Southern State Democrat winner Cooper against first-time candidate Whatley. Whatley’s deep loyalty to Trump – he has won election votes for all states that have won all three times for the president – and his fundraising skills make him formidable in closely divided states.
Releases suspects’ criminal history and ignite criticism
Brown is also facing first-degree murder charges in state criminal court this month. Federal Government Claims With the death of Zartoska. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. The call to Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s Office was previously searching for someone to comment on Brown’s behalf, but it was previously unanswered.
Earlier this year, a magistrate allowed him to be released earlier this year in September 2020 in robbery prisons for more than five years, according to court records. Brown was ordered to undergo a mental health assessment after his latest arrest.
The panel is then GOV. Cooper was established in June 2020 and offered by the Task Force for Racial Equality in Criminal Justice Many recommendationsincluding eliminating the need for those accused of most misdemeanors.
However, Cooper was not a member of the task force, and the panel had no authority to enact cash bail recommendations or release people from prison. And the Task Force’s December 2020 recommendation — most of which were ignored by Republican lawmakers — was released after Brown left prison.
State Sen. Phil Berger said earlier this month at a press conference with Whatley that the task force’s recommendations reflected “attitude toward criminal justice” informing magistrates to make bond decisions like Brown received. GOP-controlled general meetings are expected to be taken up Criminal Justice Reform this week.
Whatley also criticized Cooper 2021 Litigation Settlement So his administration had to free 3,500 criminals within state custody for several months. The state NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, and others have been suing to deal with the prison situation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cooper pushes back cancelled federal grants
Fighting back, Cooper’s campaign tried to tie Whatley into a cancellation to support the US Department of Justice grant in April Reduction of violence and victims of crime. Whatley has expressed broad support for the government’s efficiency efforts in the Trump administration, but nothing indicates that he has been actively supporting these cancellations.
Western Carolina professor Chris Cooper said Whatley’s strategy on crime is likely to be repeated. He tried to connect the order and behavior of Roy Cooper’s long career to negative consequences.
It should be a long, drawn out contest.
“We live in an era of essentially a certain campaign,” Chris Cooper said. “And if anything, temperatures will only rise between next year and next year.”
