WILMINGTON — More than $1.5 million has been pumped into the race for North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District seat.
As Republican hopeful State Sen. David Rouzer, R-Johnston County, takes on longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., money from outside sources continues to pour into the district.
The two main players moneywise are the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). In less than one month, the DCCC has spent $346,682 in media buys and producing ads opposing Rouzer’s bid, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The NRCC has spent nearly $400,000 in recent weeks in media buys targeting McIntyre, the eight-term Blue Dog Democrat from Lumberton, according to FEC reports.
An attorney for McIntyre has demanded TV stations stop airing ads produced by the NRCC, claiming the ads are “false and misleading.”
One of the TV ads in question, airing in media markets from Wilmington to Raleigh, claims McIntyre voted for higher taxes on Social Security, small businesses, middle class families and marriage.
According to Factcheck.org, a nonpartisan fact-checking website, the claims are “false, or, in the case of Social Security, misleading.”
In a letter to TV station managers, McIntyre’s attorney John Wallace asked for the ads to be removed “for the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest.”
“To support its claim, the NRCC cites a vote on the congressional budget for the U.S. Government for the fiscal year 2008. This vote does not, and cannot by its very nature, be considered a vote for a tax increase. Simply put, Congress cannot increase taxes in a budget resolution,” Wallace said.
NRCC Spokeswoman Andrea Bozek said the ad would continue to run.
“Are we really supposed to trust a career politician that said the stimulus ‘worked’ to be an expert on the truth? North Carolina families have had enough of McIntyre’s job destroying spending sprees that have made North Carolina’s economy worse,” Bozek said.
The decision to pull the ads or continue to run the ads is at the discretion of station managers, and Bozek said the ads continue to run.
