Conservatives shovel money into N.C. Senate race

PARKINS, N.C. -- One of North Ceona's senators is facing a fight for her political life.

Wendy MacDonald is the unlucky recipient of millions of dollars of negative ad spending by her Conservative opponent Tom Cozier and his allies.

Cozier, a former governor, has sought a Senate seat twice before, losing in close races both times.

This time around, he's running against MacDonald, a former community organizer and liberal activist from urban Parkins.

Cozier considered running against Sen. Anthony Campanelli (N), who is also up for reelection. However, the former CNS governor decided MacDonald was more vulnerable.

Now, Cozier and his allies are raising record funds to defeat MacDonald.

Cozier himself has raised only about $2.29 million, not an impressive sum. But dark money groups associated with him, and political action committees (PACs), have raised $6.29 million.

That money far exceeds the $4.01 million MacDonald has raised.

Aides to Cozier and within the Conservative Senate Campaign Committee (CSCC) say MacDonald is vulnerable.

"Anthony Campanelli is fairly popular statewide with a lot of voters. Wendy MacDonald is popular with liberal white women. And that's about it," Roger Everson, a conservative operative who has worked closely with CNS candidates in North Ceona in the past, told GNN.

MacDonald is a first-term senator seeking reelection for the first time. In 2020, she narrowly beat CNS incumbent Ken Estall. Conservatives believe she is beatable this election.

Cozier, a somewhat popular former governor, was considered a shoo-in when he first ran for the Senate back in 2020. He lost that race to Campanelli.

In 2022, Cozier tried again, this time losing to Sen. Elizabeth Graham (N).

Now, the former governor says this will be his last race if he loses.

"If I don't win this one, then I'm done. I'm out of the game, at least in terms of elected office," Cozier told reporters last week at a campaign stop in south Parkins.

Friends of MacDonald say the first-term senator is not as visible as other senators, but she is often behind the scenes working to make deals with her Conservative colleagues and to whip her NAT colleagues into voting for the party's agenda.

"Wendy MacDonald has delivered for North Ceona, specifically for working North Ceona families, for seniors, for minorities and low-income North Ceonans, and for women," said fellow NAT senator David Acade (Veroche).

Elizabeth Graham described MacDonald as, "for lack of a better term, the Senate's workhorse."

"She isn't in the spotlight very much. She doesn't go on all the cable news programs and give press conferences. But Wendy MacDonald gets things done. She is the sole reason that many important pieces of legislation have passed, including maternity leave, breast feeding, and expanding access to food banks," said Graham.

The question now is whether North Ceona's voters will choose to hang on to MacDonald, who flies under the radar, or whether they will pick a twice-unsuccessful Senate nominee from the Conservative side.

The two candidates are scheduled to debate in east Parkins on Monday, October 5, and again in Cape Goodwin, North Gallaghan, and Berwick later this month.