The top super PAC for Senate Republicans is canceling all the remaining ads it had booked in North Carolina as of Friday, shifting away tens of millions of dollars in a move that signals that Republicans no longer see a path to winning the state this fall.
At the same time, the super PAC, called the Senate Leadership Fund, is making is first investment of the cycle in Kansas — a sign of rising concern among Republicans in red states — with a new ad attacking the Democratic nominee there.
If Republicans lose North Carolina, it would give Democrats one of the four seats they need to flip the Senate in the fall — if Democrats hold all of their own seats.
Ad cancellations are a common, and very telling, move down the stretch of campaigns as they reveal where national operatives see their best path to a majority. The cancellation of the North Carolina ads was first reported by Semafor and confirmed by two people familiar with the decision.
The North Carolina seat is currently held by Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is retiring. Democrats nominated Roy Cooper, a popular former governor who had served two terms. The Republican nominee is Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
The Whatley campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate Leadership Fund declined to comment.
In Kansas, the new reservation shows that Republicans are worried about the re-election bid of Senator Roger Marshall, the Republican incumbent, who faces Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the country.
The new ad attacks Mr. Hamilton as a “two-faced extremist.”
The full size of the Kansas spending was not clear, but the initial buy was planned to be in the millions of dollars, according to the two people familiar with the decision.
The Senate Leadership Fund had initially planned to spend $71 million in North Carolina. The group has spent more than $30 million of those funds, according to one of the people familiar with the decision. The group still had $18 million reserved for the final month just on broadcast and cable television, according to data from AdImpact, the ad-tracking service.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, has continued to back Mr. Whatley and attended a fund-raiser for him virtually on Thursday, the two people familiar with the decision said.
In preparation for these cancellations, an increased number of Republican Senate candidates started their own dedicated super PACs, in part so they could insulate themselves from cuts from the Senate Leadership Fund. And yet Mr. Whatley’s dedicated group, Old North Action, previously canceled ads as well.
Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.
The post As Prospects Dim, G.O.P. Pulls Money Out of North Carolina Senate Race appeared first on New York Times.
