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“Unprecedented,” “Intra-Party Drama,” & “Public Brawling:” Wave Of Coverage Highlights GOP Infighting In North Carolina Senate Primary

New reports continue to spotlight the intensifying infighting in North Carolina’s GOP Senate primary, as “unprecedented” attack ads are only “one facet” of the “public brawling” that will now extend several weeks longer.

See for yourself:

Associated Press: NC GOP Senate primary intensifies as campaigns go negative
By Bryan Anderson
December 10, 2021

Key Points:

  • A court ruling delaying North Carolina’s high-stakes GOP Senate primary has increased pressure on former President Donald Trump’s favored candidate to agree to a debate schedule and has given his opponents more space to renew attacks on him.
  • [Budd’s] opponents, former North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and ex-Rep. Mark Walker, are renewing calls for Budd to get a debate on the books.
  • The disagreement over the debates is one facet of intraparty drama that will now have eight more weeks to play out.
  • Democrats are hoping a divisive GOP primary for the seat U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is vacating will boost their party’s prospects in the general election.
  • [McCrory] is furious over the attacks by Washington-based Club for Growth Action, a political action committee that’s circulating a 12-page mailer and airing television ads attacking McCrory in order to help Budd. “They’re funding his entire political experience,” McCrory said in an interview. “It’s the D.C. swamp at its worst.”
  • In the meantime, Trump wants Walker to bow out of the GOP primary so Budd can capture more of the Trump base. But Walker said he plans to stay in the race.
  • Doug Heye, a longtime GOP advisor who is not working for any of the three top Republican Senate campaigns, said the extended period for GOP candidates to fight among themselves “clearly doesn’t help.”

WRAL: More than an attack ad: Outside group mails 12-page catalog bashing McCrory in US Senate race
By Laura Leslie
December 10, 2021

Key Points:

  • In among the holiday cards and catalogs, some North Carolina found something unusual in the mail this week: a 12-page attack ad in the upcoming Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
  • “Just the length of this thing is unprecedented. Obviously, it’s a hit job from the first page to the last page,” said Chris Cooper, Madison Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs at Western Carolina University.
  • Club for Growth has already spent $4.3 million in the race and will eventually spend more than $10 million.
  • The $4.3 million is more than the top three candidates in the race have available in their campaigns combined.

Read More: Politico: ‘Trump-hater’ vs. ‘Washington insider’: N.C. Republicans squabble over Senate seat; Charlotte Observer: A new, brutal mailer on Pat McCrory is a troubling sign for Republicans; The Hill: Trump struggles to clear GOP field in North Carolina Senate race

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