A Republican super PAC is pouring $17 million into North Carolina television and digital advertising to boost former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, opening what is expected to be one of the country’s most expensive Senate races.

The Senate Leadership Fund campaign is the group’s largest ad reservation in any state so far this cycle and the first portion of its previously announced $71 million commitment to elect Whatley. The summer buy will run across broadcast television, cable and streaming, with direct mail and text messaging planned. 

The opening 30-second spot targets former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s criminal justice record. Senate Leadership Fund argues Cooper’s administration agreed to early release 3,500 inmates under a 2021 settlement over COVID-19 conditions in state prisons and says some later faced new violent-crime charges. The group launched the campaign under the theme “40 Years Is Enough,” a reference to Cooper’s career in state politics. 

Cooper’s campaign called the attacks false, saying his administration fought the underlying lawsuit and that corrections and parole officials used criteria similar to federal pandemic release rules. A recent Assembly review found the settlement’s list included people who were not actually released early and that more than 90% of roughly 3,000 early-release inmates would have finished their sentences by the end of 2021 anyway. 

The spending helps offset Cooper’s candidate-level financial advantage. WRAL reported Cooper raised $14.8 million in the second quarter, compared with $5 million for Whatley. Democrats are bringing outside money too: Senate Majority PAC has now committed about $42 million to support Cooper. 

The race is for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and could help determine Senate control. The $17 million opening salvo confirms North Carolina will be saturated with national money and negative advertising through November.

North Carolina spent more than $111 million operating Hurricane Helene base camps across western North Carolina, but auditors say officials did not track enough usage data to determine the value taxpayers received.

A report released Tuesday by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor examined 55 base camps and comfort stations operated through North Carolina Emergency Management and Texas contractor SLSCO LTD. The facilities supported first responders, utility crews, state employees and disaster survivors with shelter, meals, showers and laundry.

Expenses totaled $111,067,464 over roughly seven months, averaging $516,593 per day. The largest site, in Swannanoa, accounted for about $27 million. Auditors calculated that a one-night bed cost about $800 and a meal averaged $41.67.

The report found rates were generally based on anticipated attendance rather than actual use. Neither the state nor the contractor consistently tracked meals served, showers taken, laundry loads or restroom use because the contract did not require those measurements. Auditors recommended recording usage rates and per-service costs to strengthen future emergency contracts.

State Auditor Dave Boliek acknowledged the camps were essential immediately after Helene, but said $111 million was “no small total” and the missing metrics made it difficult to assess the return on the expense.

North Carolina Emergency Management defended the spending, emphasizing the unprecedented disaster required housing and logistical support for thousands of responders from North Carolina and 39 other states. The agency said the Federal Emergency Management Agency reviewed the invoices, found the costs necessary and deemed them eligible for 100% federal reimbursement.

A previous Hurricane Helene after-action review identified fragmented resource tracking as a weakness and called for modernized logistics systems. The audit now gives that problem a price tag and a lesson for the next disaster.

Republicans are renewing their immigration attack on former Gov. Roy Cooper, using the case of a Nicaraguan national arrested in Winston-Salem to argue that Cooper’s vetoes made the state less safe.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said Humberto Narvaez Sandoval was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after earlier arrests. Its July 22 release linked him to a Winston-Salem burglary case and court entries involving trespass, a concealed gun, firing a weapon inside city limits, impaired driving, resisting an officer, probation violations and reckless driving.

NRSC Press Secretary Nick Puglia said Cooper’s “soft-on-crime, sanctuary policies” allowed Sandoval to remain free. The committee pointed to Cooper’s 2019 veto of House Bill 370. Cooper called the measure unconstitutional and argued that it would force sheriffs to act as federal agents.

Cooper vetoed a similar measure in 2024, but Republican lawmakers overrode him and enacted House Bill 10. The law requires jail officials to check the immigration status of people charged with specified crimes and can keep someone subject to an immigration detainer and judicial order in custody for up to 48 hours.

The NRSC called North Carolina under Cooper a “sanctuary state,” but state law has prohibited cities from adopting policies that restrict federal immigration enforcement since 2015. The phrase is a political characterization, not an official state designation.

The attack lands in the Senate race between Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley for the seat being vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis. Immigration and public safety are becoming central Republican lines of attack in a contest that could help determine Senate control.