The Republican drive to capture the Senate in the 2014 midterm election got a significant boost Tuesday in North Carolina with the victory of house speaker Thom Tillis in the GOP Senate primary. Tillis will face Democratic senator Kay Hagan in the November election.

With unprecedented help from outside groups—American Crossroads, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association—Tillis got 45 percent of the vote, defeating two major challengers and averting a potentially destructive runoff election.