(The Center Square) – Far short of the half-billion to $1 billion forecast, North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, by conservative estimate, has totaled $164.3 million in spending.
The Senate Leadership Fund on Wednesday said it was spending $17 million from its $71 million spring pledge on behalf of Republican Michael Whatley. He’s on the ballot this fall with Democrat Roy Cooper and Libertarian Shannon Bray.
Absentee ballots go into the mail Sept. 4 – or five weeks from this coming Friday. North Carolinians will choose a U.S. senator, all 14 members of the U.S. House, and all 170 members of the General Assembly.
Context is needed for just how much is being spent. Political nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors, often called dark money, could be pushing the figure much higher.
As for the gap to $1 billion, the major super PACs that six months or more ago had North Carolina at the top of their list in the quest for majority share of seats in the U.S. Senate are hustling in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Maine, Iowa, New Hampshire, Alaska and Texas.
The primary alone in Texas generated more than $125 million, fueled by the Democratic takedown from James Talarico over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and the Republican slugfest won by state Attorney General Ken Paxton over four-term Sen. John Cornyn.
In addition to the April 6 pledge of $71 million from the funding arm of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Americans for Prosperity Action said in February it would spend $1 million on Whatley. Billing itself a political arm of the conservative Koch network, the spot was scheduled for cable TV, connected TV services and Meta platforms.
Total contributions with the Federal Elections Commission for Whatley were at $11.2 million for the period ending June 30.
The Senate Majority PAC, the Democrats’ fundraising arm opposite of Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund, pledged to Cooper $11 million last Thursday and $31.4 million for the fall on May 13.
WinSenate, another supporter of Democrats, said Friday it was launching a $2.25 million ad campaign against Whatley. In May, Majority Forward said it had two ads in a $1.3 million ad spend.
Total contributions with the Federal Elections Commission for Cooper were at $34.9 million for the period ending June 30. That’s fourth best nationwide for the 35 Senate seats on the ballot in three months. It is behind first-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Democratic challenger Talarico of Texas and former three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
Republicans are 5-for-5 in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate races since losing to the late Kay Hagan in 2008. Democrats chase back to 1998 for the last time winning a Senate seat at the midterms. Yet Cooper, a career politician since 1986, counters with statewide wins in four attorney general races and two gubernatorial races – all from 2000 to 2020.
Republicans in statewide races for this decade – 2020, 2022 and 2024 – are 32-10 against Democrats, a party with significantly declining voter registrations for more than 20 consecutive years. It’ll attempt to rejuvenate this weekend at its annual convention with the keynote speaker being Democratic Socialists of America supporter U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
