August 1, 2025 • 8 mins
Bo and Beth welcome Tim Boyum from Spectrum News to breakdown the NC Senate race after the latest announcement from Michael Whatley.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He loves playing coachna from his talk eleven ten and
ninety nine three Double BT. Everything that happens now is happening.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now what happened to? Then?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is Good Morning BET with Bo Hudson at Beth
Troutbitch Day.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah to twenty two, twenty one whatever, take.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
As the countdown rolls on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right, it is the first day of August. Welcome
to August, Welcome to Friday, Welcome to Good Morning BT.
And we are going to bring on the WBT hotline
right now.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You here all across the state on Spectrum News on
Capital tonight, the longtime anchor is with us. Tim Boyam,
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Tim, Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
How are you good to hear your voice? My friend?
And we have a lot to talk about and you're
right there in the heart of it all in Raleigh.
And here we go with what could be the most
expensive race for US Senate in history. I mean, Roy
Cooper raised three point four million dollars in the first
twenty four hours of his Senate candidacy earlier this week,
(01:01):
and then you had Michael Watley making things official in
Gastonia yesterday. So let's start with the rollout for Roy
Cooper earlier this week. Neither of these were surprises, obviously,
But what did you make of what you've seen from
the former governor in the first few days as a
Senate candidate.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, it was no surprise how the rollout happened. You know,
we are early on in this race, and you know
Roy Cooper's team is they've They've had numerous candidates over
the year, They've been with Roy Cooper for a long time.
And so to roll out with a video, not do
a lot of interviews, and then put his head down
and go raise a ton of money. As you mentioned,
this race could easily go well north of five hundred
(01:39):
million dollars and set new records for the most expensive
race in US history. And so I thought it was
very very Roy Cooper like. A couple things to note
about the video that came out. He didn't mention Trump
at all, very focused on you know, buzzwords like middle class,
you know, looking at the economy and Medicaid expansion and
talk of that. So all in all, I thought it
(02:01):
was very Ry Cooper like. And I think they're trying
to show Democrats how to try to win elections in
the Trump era because Roy Cooper has been successful at
that well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And we saw, you know, Michael Wattley make his official
announcement as the Republican candidate and did mention Donald Trump's name,
you know, came out and said I have his full
endorsement and spoke very, very highly of the president. So
you have one candidate who's like, I'm not going to
bring him up, you know, Democrats shouldn't be talking about Trump,
and then Republican candidates saying, we're only you know, we're
(02:34):
really going to talk about Trump. We're going to focus
on Trump at a time when people maybe are unsure
about what the future holds, with the future because of
the Big Beautiful Bill, because of what's happening still with
the Ebstein files. Is it a smart thing to to
to not talk about Trump or to talk about Trump.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, you know, let's let's just be honest about this
next year as it is historically, by the way, this
is not just Donald Trump. This is a largely going
to be a referendum on this Trump administration. It almost
always is, no matter who's in the White House. In
this instance, obviously, Donald Trump is a lightning rod, and
so it will be a referendum on Donald Trump. I
(03:12):
think Democrats are just going to try to take away
the focus on Trump himself and put it on the policies.
So the big beautiful bill, Medicaid expansion, all that stuff
is going to come out. And I think that's what
Democrats look back at twenty twenty four now and think
we focused on him too much and not kitchen table issues.
Michael Waltley's in a little bit of a situation. He's
(03:33):
really only in this race because of his affiliation and
the endorsement with Donald Trump, and he has never run
for office before. Most people outside of our world in
the news business and political business have no idea who
Michael Waltley is. And so he needs the money and
the endorsement and the discussion from Donald Trump to raise
(03:53):
his profile and to raise a ton of money. And he,
frankly is it's a little uncertain. And then the grassroots
about the support for Michael Watley at this point, and
so he needs to bring those folks back out. I
think one of the big stories of twenty twenty six
and twenty twenty eight is going to be the fact
that Donald Trump's name will not be on a ballot.
And he brought up millions of people across the country
(04:15):
that had never voted before or had that voted in
a very long time, and will they come back out
to the polls to vote for someone that is not
Donald Trump? And that is Michael Watley's focus from today
moving forward.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Well, and also you mentioned it grassroots fundraising and fundraising
in general. Like you said, a lot of people in
political circles know Michael Wattley's name, but maybe other folks don't,
do you see? You know how so many billionaires, so
many wealthy people and wealthy companies with super PACs and
that kind of thing came out to really support candidates
in twenty twenty four. Do you think any of that
(04:47):
support is going to switch sides as a referendum or
do you think it's going to dry up even.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I you know, I think a lot of people are
going to sit back and wait. Frankly, there's so much
to be played out between now and a year from November.
You know, look at it. Look at it in the
premise here of tariffs, right, Uh, there was a Liberation
Day and the markets went crazy, and then they're kept
being announcements about potential announcements to tariffs and markets react,
(05:19):
and then the markets eventually just stayed out of it
because they weren't sure what was going to happen. I
think we're going to see that with some of these
big donors that are just not sure what to do.
And I do think the business world, which let's just
be honest with these big donors are the ones that
own the big businesses. I think they're going to pull
back a little bit because there's been a lot of
backlash about taking two far stances with candidates or issues
(05:42):
frankly since COVID times, and so I do think there's
going to be a little bit more of a sit
back and wait approach. The main donors, the billionaires that
you know that always are clearly one sided, they'll get
in for sure. The question is to me, just below
those major major ones that we know we're going to
be what do they decide to do? Did they sit
out or they get in or they wait till the
(06:02):
last minute?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
When Elon Musk will be interesting. Will he get involved
in North Carolina politics?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, he was going to start that third party, which
that's kind of kind of fizzled out. But he's got
a ton of money that's available to be used and
so does he get involved. I think I think that's
a huge question. And in North Carolina, look, we are
going to be the number one Senate race in the country,
and so if Elon Musk wants to irritate Donald Trump,
there's a back candidate here in North Carolina that's gonna
be in the high profile race. And so yeah, that'll
(06:28):
be something to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
You know, when you talk about presidential legacy, one of
the things that you point most towards is Supreme Supreme
Court nominees. You know, because the Supreme Court nominees lifetime
appointments are around a lot longer than the presidents that
appoint them in many cases. But I was thinking about
the Trump legacy. He's got three years left in his
second term. But when you think about what could potentially
(06:50):
happen here, you obviously have Ted budd who was a
candidate made by Trump, anointed by Trump, and became a
front runner because of Trump, and his whole campaign was
about Trump. Essentially, if Watley were to get elected here,
you've got another guy who really was a a not
a Trump creation, but a Trump sort of. Trump was
(07:11):
the rocket that lit under him and sort of sent
him into the stratosphere in political realms. So you could
end up long after Trump is gone, having his fingerprint
on North Carolina, maybe more so than any other state
if it ends up being Watley and Bud.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, And so you know, it's interesting on that legacy front.
It's kind of playing throughout all of this. I actually
think that's why Laura Trump did not run. I mean,
I don't think she necessarily wanted to run anyways, particularly
North Carolina. They live in Florida, they still have young kids.
But if you think about it, if Lara Trump ran,
but one of the last things that happened was that
she lost in her home state with Trump on the ballot,
that would have been a fascinating legacy piece to look at.
(07:48):
But also you got to think about Roy Cooper's legacy. Here,
he's been in public office. This is the first time
he's not been in public office the last six months
since like nineteen eighty six, I believe. And if he's
never lost in the life Michael Walla's never run for one,
Rock Cooper's never lost for one. So if he loses
what would likely be his last election, how does that
change Roy cooper legacy as well? So the fingerprints of
(08:11):
legacy are all over this race and fascinating about the
future of North Carolina and it's politics. This could be
a turning of the page in some ways for the
for the how North Carolina politics are going to move
toward the future too. You know, we used to be
very different than the rest of the country and how
we did elections. We really focused on issues like education
and statewide issues. Used to drive national consultants nuts. But
(08:33):
now you know, we're sitting here and it's completely nationalized
and does that continue in the future. So legacy is
going to be a big part of this, no question. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
North Carolina is going to be right in the center
of everything, which it has been and will continue to be.
Tim boyam Capital Tonight, seven o'clock every weeknight on Spectrum
News all across North Carolina. Thanks for joining us on
a Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, good to see you. Thank you.
He loves playing coachna from his talk eleven ten and
ninety nine three Double BT. Everything that happens now is happening.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now what happened to? Then?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is Good Morning BET with Bo Hudson at Beth
Troutbitch Day.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah to twenty two, twenty one whatever, take.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
As the countdown rolls on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right, it is the first day of August. Welcome
to August, Welcome to Friday, Welcome to Good Morning BT.
And we are going to bring on the WBT hotline
right now.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You here all across the state on Spectrum News on
Capital tonight, the longtime anchor is with us. Tim Boyam,
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Tim, Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
How are you good to hear your voice? My friend?
And we have a lot to talk about and you're
right there in the heart of it all in Raleigh.
And here we go with what could be the most
expensive race for US Senate in history. I mean, Roy
Cooper raised three point four million dollars in the first
twenty four hours of his Senate candidacy earlier this week,
(01:01):
and then you had Michael Watley making things official in
Gastonia yesterday. So let's start with the rollout for Roy
Cooper earlier this week. Neither of these were surprises, obviously,
But what did you make of what you've seen from
the former governor in the first few days as a
Senate candidate.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, it was no surprise how the rollout happened. You know,
we are early on in this race, and you know
Roy Cooper's team is they've They've had numerous candidates over
the year, They've been with Roy Cooper for a long time.
And so to roll out with a video, not do
a lot of interviews, and then put his head down
and go raise a ton of money. As you mentioned,
this race could easily go well north of five hundred
(01:39):
million dollars and set new records for the most expensive
race in US history. And so I thought it was
very very Roy Cooper like. A couple things to note
about the video that came out. He didn't mention Trump
at all, very focused on you know, buzzwords like middle class,
you know, looking at the economy and Medicaid expansion and
talk of that. So all in all, I thought it
(02:01):
was very Ry Cooper like. And I think they're trying
to show Democrats how to try to win elections in
the Trump era because Roy Cooper has been successful at
that well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And we saw, you know, Michael Wattley make his official
announcement as the Republican candidate and did mention Donald Trump's name,
you know, came out and said I have his full
endorsement and spoke very, very highly of the president. So
you have one candidate who's like, I'm not going to
bring him up, you know, Democrats shouldn't be talking about Trump,
and then Republican candidates saying, we're only you know, we're
(02:34):
really going to talk about Trump. We're going to focus
on Trump at a time when people maybe are unsure
about what the future holds, with the future because of
the Big Beautiful Bill, because of what's happening still with
the Ebstein files. Is it a smart thing to to
to not talk about Trump or to talk about Trump.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, you know, let's let's just be honest about this
next year as it is historically, by the way, this
is not just Donald Trump. This is a largely going
to be a referendum on this Trump administration. It almost
always is, no matter who's in the White House. In
this instance, obviously, Donald Trump is a lightning rod, and
so it will be a referendum on Donald Trump. I
(03:12):
think Democrats are just going to try to take away
the focus on Trump himself and put it on the policies.
So the big beautiful bill, Medicaid expansion, all that stuff
is going to come out. And I think that's what
Democrats look back at twenty twenty four now and think
we focused on him too much and not kitchen table issues.
Michael Waltley's in a little bit of a situation. He's
(03:33):
really only in this race because of his affiliation and
the endorsement with Donald Trump, and he has never run
for office before. Most people outside of our world in
the news business and political business have no idea who
Michael Waltley is. And so he needs the money and
the endorsement and the discussion from Donald Trump to raise
(03:53):
his profile and to raise a ton of money. And he,
frankly is it's a little uncertain. And then the grassroots
about the support for Michael Watley at this point, and
so he needs to bring those folks back out. I
think one of the big stories of twenty twenty six
and twenty twenty eight is going to be the fact
that Donald Trump's name will not be on a ballot.
And he brought up millions of people across the country
(04:15):
that had never voted before or had that voted in
a very long time, and will they come back out
to the polls to vote for someone that is not
Donald Trump? And that is Michael Watley's focus from today
moving forward.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Well, and also you mentioned it grassroots fundraising and fundraising
in general. Like you said, a lot of people in
political circles know Michael Wattley's name, but maybe other folks don't,
do you see? You know how so many billionaires, so
many wealthy people and wealthy companies with super PACs and
that kind of thing came out to really support candidates
in twenty twenty four. Do you think any of that
(04:47):
support is going to switch sides as a referendum or
do you think it's going to dry up even.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I you know, I think a lot of people are
going to sit back and wait. Frankly, there's so much
to be played out between now and a year from November.
You know, look at it. Look at it in the
premise here of tariffs, right, Uh, there was a Liberation
Day and the markets went crazy, and then they're kept
being announcements about potential announcements to tariffs and markets react,
(05:19):
and then the markets eventually just stayed out of it
because they weren't sure what was going to happen. I
think we're going to see that with some of these
big donors that are just not sure what to do.
And I do think the business world, which let's just
be honest with these big donors are the ones that
own the big businesses. I think they're going to pull
back a little bit because there's been a lot of
backlash about taking two far stances with candidates or issues
(05:42):
frankly since COVID times, and so I do think there's
going to be a little bit more of a sit
back and wait approach. The main donors, the billionaires that
you know that always are clearly one sided, they'll get
in for sure. The question is to me, just below
those major major ones that we know we're going to
be what do they decide to do? Did they sit
out or they get in or they wait till the
(06:02):
last minute?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
When Elon Musk will be interesting. Will he get involved
in North Carolina politics?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, he was going to start that third party, which
that's kind of kind of fizzled out. But he's got
a ton of money that's available to be used and
so does he get involved. I think I think that's
a huge question. And in North Carolina, look, we are
going to be the number one Senate race in the country,
and so if Elon Musk wants to irritate Donald Trump,
there's a back candidate here in North Carolina that's gonna
be in the high profile race. And so yeah, that'll
(06:28):
be something to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
You know, when you talk about presidential legacy, one of
the things that you point most towards is Supreme Supreme
Court nominees. You know, because the Supreme Court nominees lifetime
appointments are around a lot longer than the presidents that
appoint them in many cases. But I was thinking about
the Trump legacy. He's got three years left in his
second term. But when you think about what could potentially
(06:50):
happen here, you obviously have Ted budd who was a
candidate made by Trump, anointed by Trump, and became a
front runner because of Trump, and his whole campaign was
about Trump. Essentially, if Watley were to get elected here,
you've got another guy who really was a a not
a Trump creation, but a Trump sort of. Trump was
(07:11):
the rocket that lit under him and sort of sent
him into the stratosphere in political realms. So you could
end up long after Trump is gone, having his fingerprint
on North Carolina, maybe more so than any other state
if it ends up being Watley and Bud.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, And so you know, it's interesting on that legacy front.
It's kind of playing throughout all of this. I actually
think that's why Laura Trump did not run. I mean,
I don't think she necessarily wanted to run anyways, particularly
North Carolina. They live in Florida, they still have young kids.
But if you think about it, if Lara Trump ran,
but one of the last things that happened was that
she lost in her home state with Trump on the ballot,
that would have been a fascinating legacy piece to look at.
(07:48):
But also you got to think about Roy Cooper's legacy. Here,
he's been in public office. This is the first time
he's not been in public office the last six months
since like nineteen eighty six, I believe. And if he's
never lost in the life Michael Walla's never run for one,
Rock Cooper's never lost for one. So if he loses
what would likely be his last election, how does that
change Roy cooper legacy as well? So the fingerprints of
(08:11):
legacy are all over this race and fascinating about the
future of North Carolina and it's politics. This could be
a turning of the page in some ways for the
for the how North Carolina politics are going to move
toward the future too. You know, we used to be
very different than the rest of the country and how
we did elections. We really focused on issues like education
and statewide issues. Used to drive national consultants nuts. But
(08:33):
now you know, we're sitting here and it's completely nationalized
and does that continue in the future. So legacy is
going to be a big part of this, no question. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
North Carolina is going to be right in the center
of everything, which it has been and will continue to be.
Tim boyam Capital Tonight, seven o'clock every weeknight on Spectrum
News all across North Carolina. Thanks for joining us on
a Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, good to see you. Thank you.
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