Spending May Double on Carolina Races
Spending floodgates may open in the tight North Carolina Senate contest following a Federal Election Commission stalemate Thursday on whether to restrain political party expenditures in a novel double-election race.
By a 3-3 party-line vote, the FEC deadlocked on whether to let Democrats and Republicans spend double the amount federal law normally allows them in North Carolina’s two Senate elections, which feature the same candidates on the same day, Nov. 4.
By failing to forbid it, the FEC vote essentially opens the path for the parties to inject an additional $424,500 into the campaigns of Democrat Terry Sanford and incumbent Republican James T. Broyhill, who was appointed after Sen. John P. East’s death last summer.
Voters will decide who will serve the regular six-year Senate term that begins Jan. 3, and also will pick who will fill the last two months of East’s term.
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