ICYMI: Charlotte Observer on New NC-SEN Ad Calling McCrory “Disloyal, Liberal, Loser” to Air During Panthers’ Season Opener

Joe Kildea  |   September 11, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Brian Murphy published an exclusive report in the Charlotte Observer on the new Club for Growth Action ad, “Team.” The ad highlights McCrory’s attacks on President Trump and past electoral failures. It will run during the Carolina Panthers’ season opener against the New York Jets on CBS..

“Pat McCrory is an unprincipled anti-Trumper with a record of failure when real conservatives have succeeded, while Ted Budd is a real conservative with a record and the endorsement of President Trump – the choice is clear.” David McIntosh, President, Club for Growth Action
  • Click here to watch the new Club for Growth Action ad, “Team.”
  • Click here to Read the Charlotte Observer Story.
  • Click here to read recent NCSEN Club for Growth PAC polling on the race and the effect of President Trump’s endorsement of Ted Budd.
  • Click here to read about the previous NCSEN Club for Growth Action ad, “Endorsement.”
  • Click here to read about the Club for Growth Action NCSEN TV ad, “Fool,” on McCrory’s subsidies to Communist China.
  • Click here to read about Club for Growth PAC’s endorsement of Ted Budd.
Story Excerpts
Republican group attacking McCrory again – this time during Panthers’ game TV ad
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
By Brian Murphy
Charlotte fans watching the first Carolina Panthers game of the season will see a football-themed political ad taking on U.S. Senate candidate Pat McCrory, the city’s former mayor and former North Carolina governor.
The ad attacks McCrory for his 2016 gubernatorial re-election bid loss to Democrat Roy Cooper, saying he was “disloyal” to then-candidate Donald Trump and was the only Republican incumbent to lose a statewide race that year.
“Why? McCrory quit on his team, publicly trashing Trump. Disloyal, liberal, loser,” said the ad, which was purchased by Club For Growth Action, which is backing U.S. Rep. Ted Budd in the Republican primary.
…
The football ad will air just once — during Sunday’s Panthers home game against the New York Jets — and only in the Charlotte television market. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. It is the first weekend of regular-season games in the NFL. The ad cost $35,000. It is designed to look as if the Panthers are playing the Jets in the commercial.
Club For Growth [Action] also aired an Olympic-themed ad, hitting McCrory on China, during the Summer Games. That ad called McCrory a “fool.”
The McCrory campaign has yet to begin airing television ads ahead of the March 8 primary. Nor have any outside groups placed ads on his behalf at this point. McCrory, who was Charlotte mayor from 1995 to 2009 and ran for governor three times, holds a large edge in name recognition over Budd, a third-term congressman from Davie County.
McCrory lost his 2008 run for governor, but claimed the job in 2012, giving Republicans control of the state House, Senate and governor’s mansion for the first time in more than a century. He narrowly lost his re-election race to Cooper, falling by fewer than 11,000 votes.
Trump won North Carolina in 2016, en route to his Electoral College victory. He won about 64,000 more votes than McCrory did.
“In 2016, Trump crushed in North Carolina, leading our team to victory,” the ad says.
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The ad includes with a clip from Trump’s endorsement of Budd at this year’s NCGOP convention.
“You can’t pick people that lost two races and do not stand for our values,” Trump said in a not-so-veiled shot at McCrory.
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is retiring after his term ends, creating a vacancy in 2022. McCrory, Budd and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker are the top candidates on the Republican side, though the field is wider than that. The November election could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. (202) 955-5500