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The Whatley Senate Race and a $5,000 Rebate Objection: Jim Pfaff on On Second Thought | Sep 10, 2026

Published: September 10, 2026
Network: WHKY, Hickory NC
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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Chuck Boozer opened the September 10, 2026 edition of On Second Thought by noting that his usual guest was not where he usually is. Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff visits WHKY from time to time out of Fairfax, Virginia. On this morning he was sitting in the middle of Dallas, Texas, in the media suite The Conservative Caucus built at the Republican midterm convention, looking down at the convention floor between sessions. Boozer wanted night one graded and he wanted North Carolina handicapped. Pfaff gave him both: knockout speeches from Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Brandon Gill, a Scott Bessent economic speech he liked, one promise from the podium he did not like at all, and a straight assessment of the Whatley Senate race that starts with voters in the western part of his own state.

Topics Covered

• Night One of the RNC Midterm Convention: Tim Scott, Brandon Gill and Scott Bessent
• The $5,000 Checks and the Deficit Objection
• 57 to 53: The Gap Narrows With 55 Days Left
• The Whatley Senate Race and Western North Carolina
• Georgia, Kemp and the RINO Contingent
• Key Takeaways

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Night One of the RNC Midterm Convention: Tim Scott, Brandon Gill and Scott Bessent

Boozer’s first question was the simplest one available: how did the first night go? Pfaff answered on energy first. From the standpoint of energy he thought it was fantastic, and he thought there was encouragement among the people attending. The appreciation in the hall, as he described it, came from the candidates who were speaking.

“Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Brandon Gill had knockout speeches.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The speech he spent the most words on was Scott Bessent’s. Bessent emphasized that Republicans are attempting to build an economy where individuals are going to be making their own decisions when it comes to what they do with their lives, rather than having government always make the decisions. That is a governing frame rather than a benefits list, and it is the same argument TCC covered when Bessent took the convention stage with the economy message. All of it, Pfaff said, was very good and very encouraging for everyone in the room.

The room itself is part of the story he was telling. The Conservative Caucus was not watching this from Virginia. Pfaff was broadcasting from a suite right next to ABC News, NBC News, CBS and CNN — the same size suite that they have — because the organization has put a lot of effort into its media outreach at this convention. TCC was streaming live from Dallas at theconservativecaucus.com, the operation described in our coverage plan for the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas.

The $5,000 Checks and the Deficit Objection

The one thing Pfaff flagged as the weak part of the night came from the top of the ticket. President Trump had talked about giving everybody $5,000 as a promise if Republicans get elected. Pfaff’s objection is mechanical before it is philosophical: that is something that would have to be appropriated.

“I don’t think that’s personally a very compelling argument for the American people to vote for members of Congress.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

His alternative is the older conservative ledger, and he named the line items on it.

“I’d rather just get rid of the Department of Education, a lot of the programs and other corporate welfare programs, and then reduce taxes would be far better for me than just give me a $5,000 check, although I want my money back.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The last clause is the hedge he keeps: he is not pretending he does not want the money. The problem is where the money comes from. A rebate returns a surplus, and there is no surplus. Pfaff closed that loop in one sentence.

“When you do stuff like that, you appropriate the money and we’re running deficits. So it really means that you’re just increasing your deficits.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

He did not let the objection swallow the evening. That was maybe the weak part of it, he said, but it was a very solid thing overall, because there is a great story to tell about what Donald Trump has done so far. The complaint is about what gets added to the story from a podium, not about the record underneath it.

57 to 53: The Gap Narrows With 55 Days Left

Boozer asked whether Republicans needed this convention at all, and then answered himself: the party needed to hammer home that there is a message, and to hammer home that the other side has none.

“I think the Republican Party needed this. They need to hammer home that there’s a message and here’s the message. And they need to hammer home what the other side has. And that’s no message.”
— Chuck Boozer, host, On Second Thought

Pfaff agreed and put numbers under it. This has been an election cycle in which the energy on the Democrat side has been consistently higher than the energy among Republicans. In recent polls, he said, it is not frankly that much different — or as different as some have been touting.

“A recent poll had 57% of Democrats really energized for the election with 53% of Republicans.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

That is a four-point gap, and Pfaff’s point was about its direction: the gap has actually narrowed from polls a few months earlier. With the interview airing 55 days out, he said it is important that it be at least that close, and that a convention like this one could help bridge a lot of that four-point gap.

The Whatley Senate Race and Western North Carolina

Boozer, broadcasting to a North Carolina audience, asked about Michael Whatley’s speech — a Republican National Committee regional communications director had been on the show earlier and called it fiery. Pfaff agreed on the speech and then complicated the race.

“That’s the best speech that I’ve heard him give, to be candid with you.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

He thought Whatley did a really good job. He also said Whatley has an uphill battle, and he broke the Whatley Senate race into two separate problems: one gap the candidate can bridge, and one he simply has to do better against. The bridgeable gap is with his own side. Whatley needs to convince conservative Trumpian grassroots activists that he is going to be on their side, and, in Pfaff’s words, you cannot just do that with a speech.

“He really needs to go out and mend a few bridges, particularly with people in the western part of North Carolina who really feel that they were not taken care of by the more RINO component of the GOP.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

That is a specific constituency with a specific grievance, and Pfaff’s warning about it is turnout, not persuasion. People in that part of the state are just not going to be motivated to vote. You will get a lot of them to vote, he said, but not enough — and in a Senate race decided at the margin, not enough is the whole result.

The second problem is the man on the other side of the ballot. Roy Cooper, Pfaff said, is a very good campaigner, and Whatley has to counter that much better than he is doing now. Pfaff was clear about where he stands personally — he would like to see Whatley win — which is why the fence-mending out west is not an afterthought in his read of the Whatley Senate race. It is the part still in the candidate’s own hands.

Georgia, Kemp and the RINO Contingent

Asked what looks different from Dallas than it does from Virginia, Pfaff gave the general answer first: Republicans, in the general sense, are really wanting to do something good in November. The problem he named is the candidates, particularly the ones who are not already sitting in the congressional seats they are running for. The question is whether they will take the message Donald Trump gives and the actual results he has had and communicate that straight to voters, and particularly to conservative activists.

That is the same test he had just applied in North Carolina, and he said it applies just as hard one state south.

“This is also really important in Georgia, where Governor Kemp has done everything he can to kill Tea Party MAGA-style activists.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The Republican running for Senate in Georgia has two jobs at once by Pfaff’s accounting: take on a Democrat he called another real good candidate, even though he is a radical leftist, and get the base really excited about what he is doing so he can possibly bring it over the edge. Bridging the activist gap is the precondition for the second job.

Which brought him back to the stadium he was standing over.

“I saw that energy here in the stadium last night that has to get translated by candidates down into the grassroots level, or they’re not going to be able to have the results that they need to have.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Energy in a hall in Dallas is not a vote in Hickory. It becomes one when a candidate carries it home and spends it on the activists who feel written off. That is the through-line of the interview: the convention supplied the enthusiasm, and the candidates own the translation.

Boozer closed by asking about the rest of the day. Pfaff was getting set up for the closing night — the whole TCC studio in the big media suite, streaming live at theconservativecaucus.com, with all of the Caucus’s content posted there. He promised to send Boozer pictures, said the reaction had been good, and told him they would talk again next week.

Key Takeaways

1. Night one delivered energy and three speeches worth naming – Pfaff called the energy fantastic, said Tim Scott and Brandon Gill had knockout speeches, and highlighted Scott Bessent’s case for an economy where individuals make their own decisions rather than government making them.
2. The $5,000 checks are deficit spending, not a rebate – The money would have to be appropriated while the government is running deficits, so the promise just increases the deficit. Pfaff would rather end the Department of Education and corporate welfare programs and cut taxes, “although I want my money back.”
3. The enthusiasm gap is four points and narrowing – A recent poll had 57% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans really energized, closer than polls a few months earlier. With 55 days left, Pfaff said the convention could help bridge a lot of that gap.
4. The Whatley Senate race turns on western North Carolina – Whatley gave the best speech Pfaff has heard from him, but he has to mend fences with grassroots voters in the western part of the state who feel the RINO component of the GOP did not take care of them. A speech alone will not do it.
5. Roy Cooper is the second problem – Pfaff called Cooper a very good campaigner and said Whatley has to counter him much better than he is doing now. He wants Whatley to win; he does not think the race is easy.
6. Georgia is the same argument – Governor Kemp has done everything he can to kill Tea Party and MAGA-style activists, and the Republican nominee there has to bridge that gap while facing a strong Democrat. Pfaff calls both Georgia and North Carolina states Republicans should be able to win.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast Sep 10, 2026 live from the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas on On Second Thought with Chuck Boozer, WHKY, Hickory NC.