A quarter-billion dollar race? NC Senate contest poised to set a spending record
In a year that’s shattered campaign spending records, North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race is poised to claim one of its own — the most expensive Senate race in American history.
The race between Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democrat Cal Cunningham has seen the most outside money ever spent in a congressional contest.
Dozens of deep-pocketed national groups such as super PACs and “dark money” organizations that don’t have to reveal their donors have spent nearly $141 million to influence the Senate race, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Combined with the candidates themselves, they’ve spent more than $233 million on advertising alone, according to Advertising Analytics. The most expensive race until now had been the 2018 Florida contest, which saw $213 million in total spending.
“It’s unprecedented,” said political scientist Chris Cooper of Western Carolina University. “It’s not like it’s a small uptick. This is an exponential increase.”
The figures come amid a surge in spending for all federal races.
▪ In South Carolina, Democrat Jaime Harrison raised a record $57 million in the last three months in his race against Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. That eclipsed the record $38 million raised by Democrat Beto O’Rourke in the third quarter of his 2018 Texas Senate race.
▪ Cunningham announced a third-quarter haul of $28.3 million, more than any N.C. candidate ever raised in a three-month period. Tillis’s fundraising total is unavailable. Reports are due Thursday with the Federal Election Commission.
▪ Federal candidates across the country are on pace to spend nearly $11 billion this election, The Center for Responsive Politics reported this month. That’s 50% more than in 2016.
“The 2018 election smashed fundraising records for midterms, and 2020 is going to absolutely crush anything we’ve ever seen — or imagined — before,” said Sheila Krumholz, the center’s executive director.
North Carolina’s Senate race is pivotal for each party’s hopes of controlling the Senate. Analysts have called it a toss-up, though Cunningham leads by nearly 6 points in the Real Clear Politics polling average.
Outside spenders
Spending by outside groups in the N.C. race has soared past the record $127 million seen in the 2016 Pennsylvania Senate contest, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In all, 18 different outside groups have injected $1 million or more into the race.
As of Oct. 12, Cunningham had received $71 million from big-money groups to Tillis’s $65 million.
The Senate Leadership Fund is the top spender, shelling out $28 million on ads aiming to boost Tillis. The super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell already has spent $139 million to influence the 2020 election, more than any other outside group. The group’s most recent ads focus on revelations that Cunningham sent sexually suggestive texts to a woman who is not his wife.
Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC backed by billionaire Charles Koch, spent $8 million. The group aims to support Tillis’s health care proposals and throw cold water on Cunningham’s plan. In Senate races across the country, GOP groups are attacking Democrats’ proposal to create a public option, arguing it would lead to a government takeover of health care that would hurt hospitals. These groups often rely on healthcare industry talking points in their ads.
American Crossroads, another group linked to McConnell, spent nearly $18 million on negative ads that also attack Cunningham’s public option proposal. Mike Duncan, a director of the super PAC, currently serves as chairman of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors that tapped Louis DeJoy of Greensboro as U.S.postmaster general.
Health care an issue on both sides
Senate Majority PAC is the top spending Democratic group in the race, spending $18 million on negative ads against Tillis. The group, tied to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, has focused on health care, highlighting donations to Tillis from healthcare industry groups.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also attempts to tie healthcare industry donations to Tillis’s actions in Congress. The Democratic campaign arm has spent $14 million.
Patients for Affordable Drugs Action, a group that aims to lower prescription drug prices, launched its first attack of the 2020 election to oppose Tillis, spending $4 million. The super PAC ad similarly accuses Tillis of being friendly with the pharmaceutical industry. The drug pricing group has not yet revealed its donors for 2020, but it is typically funded by Action Now Initiative, a foundation funded by former Texas hedge fund manager John Arnold.
Even Everytown for Gun Safety, a group dedicated to gun safety issues, attacked Tillis over his health care record, again citing campaign donations. The super PAC spent over $3 million. It’s supported primarily by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
‘Pay Pal-ification’
Aside from outside groups, campaigns also have been fueled by a surge of online donations.
ActBlue, a clearinghouse for donations to Democratic candidates, has raised at least $3.8 billion for candidates in the Carolinas and across the country, according to a spokeswoman. WinRed, a similar site that started in 2019, has raised $1.2 billion for Republicans, Politico reported this week.
The sites have become popular for donations of as little as $10. ActBlue has said it raised $300 million in small donations for Democratic candidates in the 10 days after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“It’s the Pay Pal-ification of campaign finance,” said Cooper, the political scientist. “Making contributions easy obviously increases numbers.”
This story was produced in partnership between The Charlotte Observer and OpenSecrets.org. Evers-Hillstrom is the group’s Money-In-Politics reporter.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 4:04 PM.
