North Carolina's Senate race just broke the record for the most outside spending ever


The close North Carolina Senate race between incumbent Kay Hagan (D) and Thom Tillis (R) has attracted a flood of spending from groups outside the state. And this week, with an ad purchase from the Koch-backed Freedom Partners Action Fund, it broke the record for the most outside spending in a Senate race ever, according to OpenSecrets.org.
A mind-blowing $55.7 million in outside money has been spent on the race, surpassing the $52.4 million that flowed into the 2012 Senate contest in Virginia between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen. It's not only the Kochs; Hagan has been receiving plenty of help from super PACS aligned with the Democratic Party.
Indeed, "outside groups have spent more money ($17.6 million) attacking [Tillis] this cycle than any other candidate," says OpenSecrets.org.
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Hagan has a 77 percent chance of winning the race, according to FiveThirtyEight's election forecaster.
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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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