In North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, national Republicans are taking the rare step of intervening in a contested GOP primary in hopes of preventing a candidate some see as unelectable from winning the nomination.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, recently reported spending $588,834 on television ads attacking 2020 nominee Sandy Smith over a laundry list of opposition research. Smith, who is running again after losing the 2020 race by 8 points and who has the endorsement of controversial freshman GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, has been accused in court documents of running scams and perpetrating spousal abuse — including swinging a frying pan at her then-husband, a claim Smith has denied.
One reason national Republicans are so invested in this race: Under North Carolina’s new court-drawn congressional map, the state’s 1st District is slightly less Democratic than its previous iteration and would have voted for Biden by just 7 points, compared to 9 points on the old map. It’s also an open seat due to Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield’s retirement.
While that makes it an appealing offensive target for Republicans, it’s Democratic-leaning enough that the wrong nominee could derail the party’s chances of flipping the seat. I’ll be watching the race closely tonight.