The most expensive US Senate race in history is over and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis won reelection.
Tillis, with 2,640,379 votes for 48.7 percent, defeated Democrat Cal Cunningham, who had 2,543,672 votes for 46.9 percent.
The vote counts are unofficial but that gives Tillis a 96,707 margin, which appears to be more than enough to hold up when late arriving absentee ballots are counted on Nov. 12.
This race had some of everything – scandal, sickness and huge amounts of money being spent by both candidates.
The Democrats saw Tillis as vulnerable and as one of the incumbent Republicans they had to knock off to win a majority in the Senate.
The two candidates combined reportedly spent over $287 million on this race and that figure will only go up as spending in the final days of the campaign is added. Of that total, at least $141 million, according to “Open Secrets,” is from super PAC and so-called dark money organizations that don’t have to reveal their donors.
Cunningham raised over $28 million in the third quarter alone.
But what appeared to push Tillis over the top in this race was not the money spent but the fact that Cunningham admitted to having an affair during the campaign, and to make matters worse the affair was with the wife of an injured American veteran.
In his campaign, Cunningham who is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves and an Iraq war veteran pushed his military record in campaign advertising.
Because of the scandal and reports of a second affair, Cunningham avoided the media during the last month of the campaign when he normally would have been campaigning all over the state and seeking media coverage.
But just after the news of Cunningham’s affair was made public, Tillis tested positive for COVID-19 and had to self-quarantine in his home in Cornelius. So for a week, in one of the hottest campaigns in the state, both candidates were off the campaign trail, for very different reasons.
Tillis did come back and appeared with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Tillis also ran a series of campaign ads questioning Cunningham’s trustworthiness, integrity and honesty.
What’s the old saying about a wolf in sheep’s clothing? That applies to Cunningham who tried to present himself as a stoic father/husband/military hero figure, all the while being actually showing he is not trustworthy. What he needs now is to move away from politics and try and redeem himself with his family and friends.
I bet you fiscally conservatives are excited about that expenditure.
Don’t trust either one of ’em. Would love to see them locked in a 1 bedroom apartment together for 30 days. They deserve each other. Rest assured, if they have that many special interests tossing that much money into the race, they’re both as crooked as a snake. #lesserofevils
So the voters came pretty close to electing Mr. Cunningham.
Winning or losing, I have no respect for the slavish support for a philanderer. If an officer has an affair, especially with another servicemen’s spouse; it should have only two possible endings: Dishonorable discharge, or a General discharge for to good of the service.
I am interested in how all this will play out. Do our politicians get away with many things that most folks would pay a penalty?
You knew Couch Cunningham was desperate when he ran ads this week saying Tillis was a fake conservative.
Like Cal was the real Trump supporter?!?! Hahaha. Talk about desperation. I hope they live stream his court martial, but I know they won’t.
Cunningham, just like John Edwards and Anthony Werner……a fake and a fraud, a self-centered fornicating loser. Can you imagine the embarrassment for NC having a senator sitting before a court martial? So, so glad and relieved he lost.
Wonder who is going o run for Burr’s position in two years?
FYI- race has not been called by the state yet. It does look like Tillis will win- and keep collecting his bribe money while not remembering those who voted for him.
The state hasn’t called any races. The state has reported the unofficial totals for election day.
As one of his supporters, I learned that Mr. Tillis has genuine concern for our citizens. Personally, he helped me with a difficult problem with a Government agency, and he succeeded.
The election smear-a-thons are just that. You did this, he did that. I am really glad that we don’t have another elections until mid-terms. This morning, it appeared that the Senate is Red, 50-48. There are two undecided senate races in Georgia. I image that hordes of bottom-feeders will flood the state now, as the Republicans need one more seat.
The House kept check on the President after the mid terms, now it may be that the Senate will keep the President in check. I certainly hope so.