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{"id":26611,"date":"2026-07-29T08:47:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/slf-launches-17-million-ad-campaign-in-north-carolina\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:47:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:47:35","slug":"slf-launches-17-million-ad-campaign-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/slf-launches-17-million-ad-campaign-in-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"SLF launches $17 million ad campaign in North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Senate\u2019s top GOP super PAC is launching a $17 million summer ad campaign in North Carolina \u2014 its largest reservation anywhere in the country so far this cycle, underscoring the state\u2019s importance to Republicans\u2019 hopes of defending their Senate majority.<\/p>\n<p>The investment, shared first with Blue Light News, is the first tranche of Senate Leadership Fund\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/senateleadershipfund.org\/press-releases\/slf-announces-initial-71-million-investment-in-north-carolinas-u-s-senate-race\/\" target=\"_blank\">previously announced<\/a> plan to spend $71 million in North Carolina this year. It comes as early public polling shows Democrat Roy Cooper, the state\u2019s popular former governor, with a lead over GOP nominee Michael Whatley, the former RNC chair.<\/p>\n<p>Cooper, a fixture of North Carolina politics, has a higher name ID and a larger campaign war chest than Whatley. But Republicans have long argued \u2014 and even some Democrats fear \u2014 that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/12\/north-carolina-senate-cooper-whatley-00993535\" target=\"_blank\">contest will tighten considerably once outside money<\/a> starts pouring in.<\/p>\n<p>The SLF ad buy signals the beginning of more national resources to come. A person familiar with SLF\u2019s plans in North Carolina, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the investment reflects the party\u2019s growing confidence that a sustained advertising blitz will expose vulnerabilities in Cooper\u2019s record.<\/p>\n<p>Just days earlier, their Democratic rival, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/23\/democrat-senate-super-pac-tv-ads\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Majority PAC, announced $11 million in ad reservations<\/a> in the state, increasing the reservation to $42.5 million in what could become one of the most expensive races of the cycle.<\/p>\n<p>The SLF <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GDEisOLAMwY\" target=\"_blank\">ad<\/a>, which will air across broadcast, cable and streaming, centers on Cooper\u2019s record on crime, an issue that is quickly becoming Republicans\u2019 biggest line of attack in the race. The 30-second spot slams Cooper over early prison releases during his time as governor, arguing that some of those prisoners later committed additional violent crimes. Along with the ad, SLF launched a website, \u201c40YearsIsEnough.com,\u201d which also criticizes Cooper\u2019s record on crime.<\/p>\n<p>Cooper\u2019s campaign has already tried to neutralize the crime attacks: They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/DZ7XpYzlE32\/\" target=\"_blank\">released an ad<\/a> last month highlighting the Democrat\u2019s public safety record as governor and attorney general.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate\u2019s top GOP super PAC is launching a $17 million summer ad campaign in North Carolina \u2014 its largest reservation anywhere in the country so far this cycle, underscoring the state\u2019s importance to Republicans\u2019 hopes of defending their Senate majority. The investment, shared first with Blue Light News, is the first tranche of Senate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}