I’ve spotlighted a lot of attack ads in this space, but it’s not all doom and gloom on the TV airwaves this year. Several candidates are trying a more positive approach.

While Club For Growth’s support for U.S. Rep. Ted Budd has so far dominated the outside spending flowing into the U.S. Senate race, a PAC backing former Gov. Pat McCrory is now dropping about $330,000 for a TV ad hitting Budd back.

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake and one of the top Democrats in the Senate, is holding a fundraiser Wednesday with Gov. Roy Cooper, and a Facebook ad promoting the event caught my eye.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis has already endorsed U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s primary opponent, N.C. Sen. Chuck Edwards, and publicly slammed the incumbent, saying he “has fallen well short of the most basic standards Western North Carolina expects from their representatives.”

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All three of the main candidates in the 4th congressional district Democratic primary are benefitting from hefty amounts of out-of-state fundraising. But the biggest beneficiary so far is N.C. Sen. Valerie Foushee, D-Orange and the preferred candidate of much of the party establishment.

The 13th congressional district Republican primary is a crowded field of eight candidates, and all but two of them are actively fundraising, first-quarter campaign finance reports show. Former U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers had the weakest total of the group.

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Backed by small-dollar supporters from all over the country, incumbent U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn still maintained a lead in fundraising in the 11th congressional district primary in the first quarter of 2022.

A contested Democratic primary in Cumberland County will likely determine who will replace retiring N.C. Rep. Billy Richardson, D-Cumberland.

The first televised debate in the U.S. Senate primary happens tonight, but the frontrunner won’t be joining the discussion: U.S. Rep. Ted Budd.