The Whatley campaign has aggressively harped on the 3,500 inmates the Cooper administration released from prison. But some of the most conservative governors in the region released prisoners during the pandemic. Arkansas and Tennessee, for example, are extremely red states with active death penalties — and they, too, followed court orders to release prisoners. By releasing 3,500 inmates, Cooper merely did what other governors were forced to do — obey the will of the judicial branch. The notion Whatley is pushing — that Cooper is some left-wing critic of the carceral state, eager to release prisoners no matter the cost — is hogwash.