Raleigh, N.C.
In North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race between Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Thom Tillis, the former is the incumbent. But she doesn’t sound like it. During their first televised debate, on September 3, Hagan devoted most of her energy to decrying the actions of the state’s Republican legislature rather than touting her own record as a freshman senator. She repeatedly attacked Tillis, the two-term speaker of the North Carolina house, for cutting state taxes rather than appropriating more money for public schools. “Speaker Tillis has the wrong priorities,” Hagan said. “At every opportunity, he has fought for policies that are taking our state backwards.” Viewers tuning in halfway through the broadcast might well have thought they were watching a debate between a confident, incumbent Republican legislator and a frenetic Democratic challenger trying to take him out.
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