AP report: Senate Republicans move cash from North Carolina to Kansas as battle for majority shifts

Senate Republicans' leading outside spending group is retreating from North Carolina and directing money to Kansas, evidence that the GOP is now on the defensive in its bid to keep control of the chamber with the midterms a month away. Four people with direct knowledge, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press that the Senate Leadership Fund made the change. It had planned $18 million in North Carolina ad time over the coming month, after already spending about $32 million there. The move suggests doubt about Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman backed by President Donald Trump, against Democrat Roy Cooper, a former governor. Trump said he is worried about Whatley but hopes he wins, according to PBS NewsHour.

In Kansas, the fund has booked nearly $8.2 million in ads for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, per AdImpact, though Trump won there by almost 16 points. Marshall's own reservations add $2.3 million, while Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton has booked $590,000. Fuel costs and economic worries have tightened the race. Former Republican governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden have endorsed Hamilton. No Democrat has won a Kansas Senate race since 1932.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →