Cynical GOP spending $1MILLION on Dem primary in NC to boost unknown candidate.
From Politics NC Thomas Mills:
In North Carolina, Republicans are flipping the script and playing in the Democratic primary for attorney general in North Carolina. A dark money group called And Justice for All is reportedly spending at least $1 million pushing the candidacy of Durham District Attorney Satana Deberry. She’s running in the primary against U.S. Representative Jeff Jackson and Fayetteville attorney Tim Dunn. The winner will face Congressman Dan Bishop in the general election in November.
Jackson has been seen as the frontrunner in the race. He served several terms in the state senate before being elected to Congress in 2022. He’s built a large and powerful social media presence that has helped him raise more than $1.8 million in the primary. He briefly ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, visiting all 100 counties and earning himself a devoted following.
Deberry announced her bid in December, shortly before the campaign filing period and has raised only $31,000. She’s an impressive leader, but, until now, was not well-known outside of Durham. The dark money campaign gives her a boost in name recognition that she couldn’t buy with the money she’s raised. It also lets Democratic primary voters know that there’s a Black woman in the race. The primary electorate will be roughly 60% women and 40% African Americans.
According to news reports, the ads are touting Deberry as the “real progressive” in the race. While I have not found the ads on the internet, WFAE says they state, “As Durham District Attorney she worked to end inequity and racial bias in the system. As attorney general, she will fight to make the system more transparent, lower incarceration rates and break the cycle of crime.” That’s a pretty good message to a Democratic primary audience, but a lousy one for a general election electorate.
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My .02: Everyone still expects Jackson to win. My beef is the big dollars interference and that Republicans are cynically using a woman’s long shot candidacy to manipulate Democrats. They have a sinister streak in the way they target black female political candidates here. I hope she takes advantage of their spending spree and becomes better known for her future runs and that 1million dollars they spent cynically to boost her profile comes back to haunt them.
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