Democrats are ramping up efforts to boost former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley in her race against conservative Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) for North Carolina’s open Senate seat.
With recent polls showing the candidates neck-and-neck, Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC with close ties to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), dedicated an additional $4 million this week for television ads in the state, on top of a separate $4 million injected into the race in recent days, for a total of roughly $15 million this cycle in a bid to pick up the seat.
The outside spending blitz comes as Sens. Jon Ossoff and Cory Booker hold “get out the vote” rallies on Beasley’s behalf over the weekend.
DEMOCRATS SKITTISH ABOUT THROWING BIG MONEY AT NORTH CAROLINA SENATE RACE
Recent polls show a close race. A SurveyUSA-WRAL poll showed 43% of respondents supporting Budd versus 42% for Beasley, with 13% undecided.
Beasley has sought to paint Budd as an extremist and link him to former President Donald Trump, while Budd has attacked her as being soft on crime.
The uptick in spending comes as Republicans have heavily spent in the state, with Senate Leadership Fund and the National Republican Senatorial Committee spending roughly $26.38 million to back Budd. The Republican is a Trump ally and former gun store owner who was first elected in 2016. The GOP is fighting to flip the majority in the upper chamber.
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The battleground state is expected to play a key role in which party holds the majority next year, with Trump having won the state by 1 point in 2020.
During the previous cycle, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) narrowly edged out Democratic candidate Cal Cunningham by 2 percentage points after Cunningham endured a sex scandal in the final stretch of the campaign.
