• The Club for Growth PAC, which is supporting Chatham County GOP Chairman Jim Duncan in the 2nd Congressional District primary, is on the air with this ad attacking incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers. The free-market group will spend $400,000 on the ad buy.
• A new High Point University Poll shows Hillary Clinton with a comfortable lead over Bernie Sanders among North Carolina’s Democratic primary voters, 55 percent to 29 percent. Meantime, Donald Trump maintains a slim lead in the Republican race, with 26 percent of the vote. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is second with 22 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is third with 20 percent, and no one else is in double digits. The poll also found Republican voters more engaged than Democrats in the election cycle.
• Unless several of the front-running candidates change their minds, it looks as if several debates in primary races for statewide office will resemble the undercard debates in the GOP presidential contest. So far, Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Gov. Pat McCrory — along with Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, who’s running for governor — have rejected overtures from Time Warner Cable News to debate their primary opponents. Former Wake County state Rep. Deborah Ross, the presumed leader in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, also has not agreed to participate in a debate sponsored by WRAL News. The Burr camp says he would join in debates during the general election campaign.
• In case you missed it, Monday’s election preview hosted by the John Locke Foundation and featuring Newsmax White House correspondent John Gizzi, JLF Chairman John Hood, and Republican consultant Marc Rotterman is available for viewing here.
