GREENSBORO, NC — An ad blitz has closed the gap in North Carolina’s senate race. Democrat Kay Hagan leads Republican Thom Tillis by the slimmest of margins.
WCCB sat down with Senator Hagan today to talk about the issues.
“I am well informed on the issue of ISIS,” said Senator Hagan. “I’ve held over 20 hearings on counter- terrorism issues.”
Senator Kay Hagan, sitting down with me in her Greensboro home, firing back at criticism from Thom Tillis and recent attack ads calling her out for missing an Armed Services Committee meeting on ISIS to attend a fundraiser.
And she is questioning her opponent’s stance on fighting terrorism.
“He cannot say one thing that he would do,” said Hagan. “He is spineless on the issue. The only thing he can do is listen to what I’m saying, and say ‘Oh I disagree with that’.”
It’s another chapter in an increasingly nasty battle for a key Senate seat.
“I think there is so much negativity out there, and the public is so tired of it,” said Hagan. “I’m tired of it.”
This race could decide the balance of power in Washington, and could be the most expensive Senate campaign ever.
“North Carolina is not for sale, period.”
Hagan has criticized millions of dollars from outside North Carolina bolstering the Tillis campaign, especially money from a Super PAC funded by Charles and David Koch.
“I think it’s wrong to have all of this super secret money flood into North Carolina,” said Hagan.
The latest polls show Hagan with a thin advantage. The senator says she wants to increase the minimum wage, protect women’s rights and put all workers on equal footing when it comes to pay.
And she is hitting her opponent hard on social issues.
“I don’t think the government can tell anybody who they can love, or who they can marry,” said Hagan.
Senator Hagan says Speaker Tillis’ vow to fight for Amendment One, and a same-sex marriage ban in North Carolina, is a waste of state tax dollars.
“Our Attorney General will not argue this case,” said Hagan. “So he (Tillis) has now hired outside counsel to continue, you know, trying to litigate this issue.”
Combined spending in the Hagan-Tillis race could exceed $100 million, with the overwhelming majority of that money coming from outside of North Carolina.
