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\n

DALLAS \u2014 Republicans are increasingly worried that North Carolina\u2019s Senate race is slipping out of contention.<\/p>\n

For months, they had argued that a post-Labor Day infusion of cash could jolt new energy into the largely stagnant but critical Senate race. But as Republican nominee Michael Whatley struggles to meaningfully close the gap against Democrat Roy Cooper in the polls, some in the party fear they\u2019re running out of time.<\/p>\n

Republicans\u2019 concerns were apparent in side conversations, closed-door meetings and even on-stage speeches at their splashy midterm convention in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, told Blue Light News that North Carolina was \u201cprobably one of the hardest\u201d states on the map.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re running against an existing governor,\u201d Scott said of Cooper. \u201cSo that makes it harder in an open seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

One person, granted anonymity to discuss a private lunch they attended with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the Senate Leadership Fund on the second day of the convention, similarly described the North Carolina race as \u201ctough.\u201d The lunch was focused on the party\u2019s battleground Senate map, and Thune zeroed in on Alaska, Maine and Michigan as top targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Carolina and Georgia are seen by most as off the map at this point, and with Michigan and New Hampshire becoming real flip opportunities as we get closer to November, it\u2019s becoming even more challenging to justify spending in North Carolina and Georgia,\u201d said one GOP pollster who was in Dallas for the convention and, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

Public polling has consistently shown Cooper ahead, including a survey released Thursday<\/a> that found the Democrat leading Whatley by 11 points among likely voters.<\/p>\n

Even President Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge the challenge: \u201cNow in North Carolina, you have a little more difficult case, because people don\u2019t quite get it, but they\u2019re going to find out,\u201d he said during his speech on the first night of the convention, while reiterating his support for Whatley, his former handpicked Republican National Committee chair.<\/p>\n

The White House later announced that he will travel to Gastonia, North Carolina, for a campaign rally with Whatley next week. “The president’s first visit in the coming week is going to be helpful,” said a person close to the Whatley campaign. “Roy Cooper has maxed out his support and can\u2019t grow anymore. But voters in NC, especially on the right, tune in late and break late. The Trump visit will be a good motivator for our voters.”<\/p>\n

North Carolina\u2019s Senate contest has been one of the more subdued races of the cycle, especially for a perennial battleground that could play a pivotal role in determining control of the upper chamber. That could change as more money pours in during the final stretch \u2014 and if Whatley can pick up more steam.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome in D.C. \u2014 [Republicans] and [Democrats] \u2014 have viewed North Carolina as typically a slam dunk for Republicans,\u201d Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist who is from North Carolina. \u201cBut that just isn’t true, as tight presidential and senatorial margins have shown us time and again.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLF, the top Senate super PAC, has pledged an initial $71 million in North Carolina through Election Day, including an initial $17 million summer advertising<\/a> campaign supporting Whatley. No Going Back PAC, which is affiliated with the president\u2019s MAGA Inc. super PAC, dropped roughly $5 million into North Carolina<\/a> earlier this week. But in a state that has some of the country\u2019s most expensive media markets, both parties may ultimately need to spend substantially more.<\/p>\n

Whatley was at the Dallas convention, where he attended an event hosted jointly by SLF and the NRSC discussing the battleground map. He also had a speaking slot.<\/p>\n

Whatley told Blue Light News that he was confident his campaign was \u201cgoing to have the resources that we need to get our message out and talk to the voters about the issues that they care about.\u201d Asked about the prospect of an influx of support from MAGA Inc., Whatley said he would \u201cwait and see how that entire universe is going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some Republicans are questioning whether additional money is enough to change the race\u2019s trajectory at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still time, but even with at least $100 million, [Whatley] would need a campaign team capable of turning that money into actual points,\u201d said one North Carolina-based Republican operative.<\/p>\n

And Whatley could run up against the overall difficult environment for the GOP, as the party needs to shore up Republicans in other expensive states \u2014 like Texas \u2014 that historically have not needed attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t allocate a limited amount of resources and energy to 10 Senate races and expect to do well. We should be over-indexing where we think we have an edge,\u201d the GOP pollster told Blue Light News in Dallas.<\/p>\n

The NRSC isn\u2019t worried about Whatley\u2019s current standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSummer polling has flattered North Carolina Senate Democratic candidates before only to be proven wrong in November,\u201d Bernadette Breslin, NRSC national press secretary, said in a statement. In 2020, polling at this point in the cycle showed GOP Sen. Thom Tillis trailing Cal Cunningham, the Democrat, before Tillis ultimately won by roughly two percentage points. Cunningham was also caught in a late-cycle scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Democrats haven\u2019t won a Senate race or carried North Carolina at the presidential level since 2008, though they\u2019ve come close a few times. But it\u2019s undeniable that Republicans\u2019 struggle to address high costs of living \u2014 voters\u2019 top concern<\/a> heading into November \u2014 and Trump\u2019s sagging approval ratings are putting Democrats in a strong position, both in North Carolina and other key battleground states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at Republicans who won close races in the past, the setting and political environment aren’t the same,\u201d said a national GOP operative who was also in Dallas for the convention.<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Tillis was elected in 2014, a wave year for Republicans,\u201d the operative said. \u201cTillis won reelection in 2020 with Trump at the top of the ticket, and his opponent had a huge scandal. 2022 was an open seat [and] Ted Budd was a congressman. Dems gave up on the seat and didn’t put the money needed into the race to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their part, North Carolina Democrats aren\u2019t relying on Cooper\u2019s current wide polling advantage to hold. The Cooper campaign noted that the former governor\u2019s lead is already narrowing.<\/p>\n

The political dynamics of the state also make Democrats uneasy: North Carolina has backed the Republican presidential nominee in each of the last four elections, and Whatley could still benefit from an enormous influx of outside spending.<\/p>\n

“A Democrat has not won statewide federal office here in nearly two decades \u2014 and Whatley\u2019s elite D.C. connections mean Republicans are going to spend whatever it takes to keep this seat,\u201d Jeff Allen, Cooper\u2019s North Carolina campaign manager, said in a statement. \u201cNorth Carolina is a 50-50 state and this will be a margin-of-error race, which is why we\u2019re building a campaign to earn every vote and make sure North Carolinians know that Roy Cooper will fight for them, while Michael Whatley will continue to enrich himself at their expense.”<\/p>\n

Still, for Republicans, the challenge goes beyond money. Motivating lower-propensity Republican voters \u2014 who are loyal to Trump but who may otherwise ignore a midterm election \u2014 is central to the party\u2019s strategy. It was an overarching goal of the midterm convention as GOP lawmakers and Trump officials repeatedly warned of a democratic socialist takeover<\/a> and focused on bread-and-butter issues for their base.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Paul Shumaker, a longtime North Carolina GOP operative and top consultant for Tillis, said Whatley is running up against two key hurdles that threaten to dog Republicans this cycle: GOP voters\u2019 low enthusiasm and Trump\u2019s sinking standing with unaffiliated voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President is underwater with unaffiliated voters, and Michael Whatley has to win a majority of those unaffiliated who turn out this election year,\u201d said Shumaker, who is unaffiliated in the race. \u201cGiven North Carolina\u2019s registration number and the fact that there is little to no crossover voting between the two major parties, fixing both problems is the only path to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DALLAS \u2014 Republicans are increasingly worried that North Carolina\u2019s Senate race is slipping out of contention. For months, they had argued that a post-Labor Day infusion of cash could jolt new energy into the largely stagnant but critical Senate race. But as Republican nominee Michael Whatley struggles to meaningfully close the gap against Democrat Roy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27095","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=27095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}