MASSIVE PIVOT

Republicans Quit Battleground Senate Seat in Telling Move

A top Senate GOP group is shifting money out of North Carolina.

A top Republican group is shifting money out of the North Carolina Senate race as President Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate Michael Whatley struggles in the polls.

The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC dedicated to helping Senate Republicans, has paused its spending in the longtime battleground state as Whatley trails Democrat Roy Cooper.

Instead, the PAC will be spending more money in Kansas, a state Trump won by 16 points less than two years ago, to help shore up support for Republican Senator Roger Marshall.

The dramatic decision to cut losses and refocus money on Kansas was first reported by Semafor on Friday.

It comes as Marshall has seen a series of struggling signs in recent weeks, raising mounting concerns about Republicans’ ability to hold the seat in the usually reliable red state.

When SLF first announced its spending in that Senate race, it indicated it would invest $71 million throughout the summer and through Election Day to help Whatley. It had already spent more than $30 million in North Carolina before hitting pause.

Despite the spending, a series of recent polls showed Whatley trailing the former Democratic governor by as much as 15 points in September.

Now SLF is turning its attention toward Kansas, where Marshall is neck-and-neck with Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton.

Two separate polls last month showed Hamilton with a two-point edge in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century.

SLF ad reservations in Kansas totaled $8.2 million, according to tracking by Ad Impact, with the first ads starting to air Saturday.

Republicans currently hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate to Democrats’ 47 seats.

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While control of the Senate remains a toss-up, Democrats have expanded their roadmap to retaking the majority to include seats in states not previously considered battlegrounds but that have become increasingly competitive, such as Kansas and Texas.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated SLF giving up on North Carolina and rushing to save the seat in Kansas in a post on X.

“The fact that the biggest Republican Senate Super PAC took its money out of North Carolina today and put it into Kansas says all you need to know about which direction the Senate Majority is headed,” he wrote.

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Last week, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating on the Kansas Senate seat from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.”

As the race tightened in Kansas, Vice President JD Vance traveled to the state in mid-September to rally support for Marshall. Other Senate Republicans have also flocked to the state to help.

On Friday, a memo from Hamilton’s campaign argued the Democratic candidate’s momentum is building. It noted a series of polls and race rating changes favoring him.

Hamilton also touted the endorsement of a second former Republican Kansas governor endorsing him. Former GOP Governor Mike Hayden, who served from 1987 to 1991, threw his support behind Hamilton after former Republican Governor Bill Graves announced last month that he was supporting the Democrat in the race.

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