Both major party candidates in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race took the bold stand on Friday to call out the mudslinging in campaign ads coming from the other side. Just do not expect either one to stop running attack ads anytime soon.
Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic incumbent, launched an ad called "Punches," during which she directed her animosity to “out-of-state special interests” that are running ads to unseat her. Hagan does not mention her Republican challenger, state Speaker of the House Thom Tillis, during the ad.
Half of the ad features Hagan promising to continue to work to protect military veterans, support Medicare and promote a stronger economy.
But some critics have questioned Hagan’s decision to use the pugilistic metaphor “keep taking the punches,” especially after sexual assault on college campuses and domestic violence in professional sports have received increased attention in recent weeks.
Instead of criticizing outside groups, Tillis goes after Hagan directly in his new ad. In a TV spot nominally about education and Tillis’s former role as a PTA president, he says Hagan’s campaign is “built on falsehoods.”
In addition to touting the state’s recent teacher pay raise and attacking Hagan for calling it a pay cut, Tillis also criticizes Hagan for “voting with the Obama party line 96 percent of the time.”
With election day still more than 40 days away, and campaign and outside spending on the Hagan-Tillis battle totaling nearly $40 million already — the most of any Senate race nationally this year — the attack ads are unlikely to cease until Election Day on Nov. 4.
state@dailytarheel.com
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