Leading Republicans are pulling back from the North Carolina Senate race, sending a clear message: What was a top-tier battleground at the start of the cycle is no longer worth the money.
The foremost Senate GOP super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, is pausing its future spending in North Carolina and instead launching a seven-figure ad buy in deep-red Kansas, according to one person familiar with the move. The news was first reported by Semafor.
The dramatic change in strategy — less than four weeks before the midterms — comes after SLF previously spent more than $30 million to boost GOP nominee Michael Whatley. It also comes as public polling has continued to show Whatley unable to close the gap against popular former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate.
Republicans are now deprioritizing a state that President Donald Trump carried in all three presidential runs, and that Democrats haven’t won in the Senate since 2008.
“We are all clear-eyed about where North Carolina stands,” said one national GOP operative working on Senate races, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
SLF isn’t the only major GOP group shifting away from North Carolina as Republicans focus on other must-win seats and deep-red states, amid the Iran war, high fuel prices and other economic fallout of the war in Iran.
Earlier Friday, the Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity Action left North Carolina off its $22 million list of future spending across key Senate contests, as POLITICO reported. Another major Republican group focused specifically on boosting Whatley — Old North Action — removed $6.5 million in ad reservations from North Carolina’s Senate race last month.
“Michael Whatley is a good man who took one for the team — but with states like Alaska, Kansas, and Texas requiring continued resource commitments, there is only so much,” said another national GOP operative working on midterm races. “Especially against a very popular former Governor in Roy Cooper.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is currently running coordinated ad reservations with six of its battleground candidates. Whatley in North Carolina is not one of them, according to data from advertising tracking service AdImpact.
NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement that “Whatley will put North Carolina families first by cutting taxes and keeping criminals locked up.”
Whatley for months has struggled to boost his name ID against the much better-known Cooper. Some recent public polls show Cooper leading Whatley by double-digit margins. Private polling has also hardly budged, despite the recent influx of spending, according to a person working on the race.
Trump on Friday told reporters he was “worried” about Whatley, his handpicked candidate in the battleground race.
“He’s a great man, and I am worried about him. I hope he wins,” Trump said. “He’s a great man, he was a great leader for the whole Republican Party when I won, and he’d be a great senator.”
In a statement, Whatley spokesperson DJ Griffin said the team feels “confident we have the resources” to win in November.
“Roy Cooper recently said about federal elections in North Carolina, ‘Democrats are often ahead until they are not,’” Griffin said. “Undecided Voters who break late decide the election in North Carolina and the majority of those Late-Breakers typically go Republican.”
AFP Action and Old North Action did not immediately respond to a request for comment about North Carolina. SLF declined to comment.
SLF’s decision came as a shock to some, but not all, North Carolina Republicans — mostly because Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been scheduled to be in North Carolina for an event with Whatley on Thursday night. Thune ended up joining the event virtually, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
For weeks, top Republicans acknowledged North Carolina may be slipping away. One Republican who attended a donor meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and SLF during the Dallas convention told POLITICO that holding the state would be “tough.”
“The map has shifted a little bit, and to be fair, we knew that was going to be a tough one from the beginning,” said one GOP operative working on Senate races, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the landscape.
Democrats are not letting up, recognizing that the contest in the purple state could still be close.
“A Democrat has not won statewide federal office here in nearly two decades, and North Carolina is a 50-50 state,” Cooper campaign manager Jeff Allen said in a statement.
“We’re building a campaign to earn every vote and make sure North Carolinians know that Roy Cooper will fight for them, while Michael Whatley will continue to enrich himself at their expense,” Allen said.
One North Carolina GOP strategist said that while Whatley has been a “fine” candidate, the current political climate coupled with Cooper’s long record in the state may be too much to overcome. And while Republicans have repeatedly hammered Cooper on crime, he still has strong favorability ratings from his time as governor.
“He’s really kind of hard to paint as a radical, ’cause, you know, he’s like Aunt Martha. She’s just been there forever. And so it’s just very difficult to get any traction on that, because, you know, people say, ‘well, Roy’s okay,’” they said.
When told that SLF was moving money from North Carolina to Kansas, the strategist responded: “$6.50 diesel fuel will kick your ass.”
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More chilling details of the alleged gang rape at Cornell University and the ensuing cover-up are coming out.
The public knows that the Chi Phi fraternity is at the center of the scandal.
As the seven accused participants in the assault claim to be innocent, some are alleging that they believed that the drugged victim had consented.
Some are sharing Jane Doe’s alleged statements. Others are saying that she didn’t seem to be slurring her words at the time.
The campus of Cornell University on September 30, 2026. (Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The ugly story out of Cornell University includes statements from the alleged perpetrators
Weeks after allegedly drugging and gang-raping a fellow Cornell University student, the seven frat bros claimed to investigators that Jane Doe had said that it was consensual.
According to files that the New York Times obtained, one of the accused gang-rapists, Diego Sarabia, claimed to investigators that she had said something like: “This was normal in the medieval times.”
His fellow accused rapist, Matthew Ingalls, told investigators that he had asked Jane Doe if she wanted to have a threesome with him and with Jonathan Newell, a fellow frat member.
Newell told investigators that he had assumed that Ingalls had asked for permission to invite him to join.
He also claimed that he and Ingalls had both consumed ketamine, marijuana, and a heavy amount of alcohol.
Interestingly, there is a claim from Winston Lee, another accused rapist, that Jane Doe and others around her “weren’t slurring their speech” and seemed normal to him at the time.
Gillio Lopes told investigators that he had a “pretty solid recollection” despite 3 beers and 3 mixed drinks.
He claimed that Jane Doe had initiated sexual contact with him, but that he left at around 2 AM while feeling “uncomfortable.”
Lee described the unnamed victim as initiating sexual contact in some capacity before he had apparently agreed to anything.
He also admitted to snorting ketamine off of her body.
According to Lee, he asked Jane Doe for her consent at some point during the night.
He claimed that she replied: “We’re all consenting adults here.”
Scott Kretzschmar’s attorney claimed that he did not participate in any of the sexual activity, with or without any alleged consent. Kretzschmar himself said that Jane Doe seemed fine, and that he would “like to think” that he would have “helped out” if he’d thought that she were in danger.
Scott Norris said that Jane Doe seemed “conversational.”
Jane Doe told investigators that Kretzschmar and Norris were “more like voyeurs than anything” while describing what happened to her.
Obviously, Jane Doe might have said many things while under the influence. That does not mean that she made these specific statements.
It is also normal — generally speaking — for victims of certain types of crimes to reassure wrongdoers, during or after the fact. Abused partners may even fawn over an abuser. It is a survival instinct. Abused children may do the same. In some cases, society encourages this behavior.
We should also emphasize that Jane Doe made clear statements when seeking medical help following the assaults, admitting that her possible exposure to STIs had been “in a traumatic way.”
As for the part about the two Scotts believing that Jane Doe was not a victim at the time despite the harrowing “free pussy” announcement on Snapchat … it’s conceivable that a college student might not know the difference between witnessing a consensual sexual encounter and an assault.
But the overwhelming evidence thus far says that a woman was drugged and raped and then failed by the institution that was supposed to protect her.
Part of that failure appears to have included withholding key evidence from the local District Attorney.
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Today, Friday, Oct. 2, Miranda Lambert has unveiled her long-awaited album Crisco, kicking off the 12-track collection with “Snakeskin Boots,” a daring collaboration with hitmaker Ella Langley.
Written by Lambert, Jesse Frasure, Kris Wilkinson, Natalie Hemby and Brendan McLoughlin, the song immediately transports listeners into a cinematic, old-school Western world. A 30-second intro built around mandolin and the crackle of what sounds like a vintage recording sets the scene before Lambert and Langley trade lines in the opening verse, eventually joining together in string of seamless harmonies on the chorus.
With Lambert and co-producer Jesse Frasure pulling from the sounds of the era of late-’60s cinematic Westerns, the track blends a vintage flair with a modern edge that could easily soundtrack a Quentin Tarantino film.
Photo Courtesy of Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley
The midtempo track intensifies with a larger-than-life energy of its rebellious main character who is always ready to make her escape. The mysterious woman is depicted as someone who is equal parts seductive and dangerous while remaining completely in control. She lives fast, stays one step ahead and refuses to be tied down. At the center of it all are her snakeskin boots, which become a symbol of her independence.
“If the good all die young/ She gonna slip the hangman’s noose/ Stealin’ diamonds/ In her snakeskin boots/ If you ask her /How she shook the devil loose/ Boy, I’m faster/ In my snakeskin, snakeskin boots,” the female hitmakers sing.
“Snakeskin Boots” also make its world premiere at Country radio on Oct. 2.
The three-time GRAMMY winner revealed that the new single was originally written with Langley’s vocals in mind. Given their history of collaborating on songwriting, production and now multiple duets, it’s safe to say that Lambert is accurate in describing the two of them as “kindred spirits.”
Their creative partnership previously included co-writing Langley’s historic single “Choosin’ Texas,” while Lambert also served as an executive producer and co-producer on the Alabama native’s latest album, Dandelion. “Snakeskin Boots,” it’s now Lambert’s turn to showcase the magic the two create together on her own album, Crisco.
“When we were working on her album, I realized how many retro influences we share,” Lambert explains. “To me, this song is kind of Thelma and Louise if they didn’t drive off the cliff. It’s two badass women getting away with something, and she’s the perfect partner for that.”
Miranda Lambert – Crisco
Crisco marks a new musical era for Miranda Lambert, showcasing her ability to push the boundaries of her creativity by blending classic country sounds with elements of disco-inspired energy through stories of heartbreak and hope, highways and honky-tonks, rhinestones and roller skates.
“We weren’t trying to make a retro record, but we channeled a feeling and this is where the music led us,” Lambert said of the collection.
“I hope when people listen to Crisco, it feels familiar while also feeling fresh,” she adds. “They can grab onto something that feels nostalgic, put their roller skates on and go on the journey with us.”
In addition to Langley, the just-released project also finds Lambert reuniting with longtime friend Chris Stapleton on the GRAMMY-nominated “A Song To Sing” and honoring one of her songwriting heroes with a new interpretation of Jim Croce’s “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song.”
Miranda Lambert; Photo by Brayln Kelly Smith
Lambert commemorated the album release by taking the stage at Nashville’s newest venue, The Truth, on Thursday, Oct. 1. The sold-out, one-night-only show featured the country star with a 12-piece string section, marking the first time her band has performed with strings on stage.
The Nashville stop is the first of two release-week shows. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Lambert will return home to Texas for a second one-night-only show at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth.
Her lawyers say Pike is still in critical condition and unable to communicate.
A mug shot of convicted killer Christa Pike. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
The attempted execution was supposed to be a carefully controlled procedure.
Instead, it quickly became clear to witnesses that something had gone seriously wrong.
Now, one of the few people who witnessed the execution firsthand is describing the moment he realized the situation was anything but routine.
Will Puckett was among just seven media witnesses inside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday night.
According to Puckett, the first warning sign came before witnesses even saw Pike.
“As we’re sitting in this room, and it’s now taking nearly an hour for them to open the curtain from the time that we’re sat,” Puckett told The US Sun, one of his fellow witnesses leaned over and told him, “It should not be taking this long for the curtains to open. Something’s going wrong.”
That assessment proved to be correct.
Puckett described the experience as “surreal” and said he was left “at a loss for words” as the procedure unfolded.
Rather than receiving an immediate explanation from prison officials, witnesses eventually saw the curtain open.
Pike’s attorneys later provided more details about what had happened behind the scenes.
Attorney Randy Spivey said medical personnel spent approximately an hour attempting to establish IV access, using at least seven needles in Pike’s arm. One needle reportedly came out bent.
Pike ultimately survived the two doses of pentobarbital administered during the failed execution.
Witnesses also reported hearing Pike breathing and snoring after the drugs had been administered. They were eventually escorted from the execution area without knowing exactly what would happen next.
On Thursday, Pike’s legal team confirmed that she was alive and receiving what they described as “life-saving care.” Her current prognosis remains unclear.
Tennessee governor Bill Lee has since suspended executions in the state for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review of what went wrong.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
If you’re just getting to know Highway Home, the country trio of Eamon Owen, Conner Sweeny, and Stanton Langley, buckle up because they’re only getting started. Out today, their debut EP, No More Drinkin’ Songs, serves as the perfect introduction to who they are and where they are going as it gives listeners a taste of the sound, influences and chemistry that make the trio stand out.
Their story starts with three friends who were each pursuing music on their own before realizing that their shared love of country music was something worth chasing together. Originally from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, respectively, the three met through Nashville’s Music Row scene and officially joining forces in 2024.
Since then, Highway Home has quickly begun making a name for themselves and seeing an impressive growth in their audience. Their sound draws heavily from the country music of the ’90s and early 2000s, blending the nostalgia of the music they grew up on with a fresh, modern energy that comes to life through their signature three-part harmonies.
Highway Home; Photo Provided
Now, their debut six-track EP, No More Drinkin’ Songs, gives fans an even closer look at what Highway Home is all about. Produced solely by Ryan Gore, the collection finds them reflecting on memories of their youth in “Never Grow Up,” putting their own spin on the classic honky-tonk drinking-and-love song with the title track, and ultimately exploring the highs and lows, heartache and experiences that have helped shape their sound so far.
We caught up with all three members of Highway Home to talk about how the group came to be, their journey so far and what they hope fans take away from the new project.
For anyone who might just be learning about Highway Home and starting to listen to your music, how would you describe your sound as a band?
Stanton – I’d say it’s pretty centered around the reminiscent country of the 2000s and the ’90s, but with a modern touch. I mean, we all listen to many different types of music, country music specifically. And we listen to what comes out today just as much as we listen to what was coming out in the 80s. So I mean, there’s definitely a fresh touch on it, but I would say it’s definitely pointed back towards what we would call the good old days.
Eamon – I think all of us just grew up listening to that music and ended up loving that era of music. So without even trying, that’s just whenever we’re writing songs, that’s what we love to try to go for. So it just came out naturally.
Where were you guys individually at the time when you first met?
Conner – We had been buddies for a while. We had all been going to all the writers’ rounds, been playing them, writing songs individually. We were all solo artists and we were all doing different things. Stanton was on the road as a guitar player and then also playing shows as an artist. Eamon was playing some shows and selling merch, riding around on a tour bus. And I was playing cover gigs for frat parties and that kind of stuff for years. And we all started writing songs together and decided that, hey, there’s a gap in the industry for this trio kind of sound. And we loved doing it together and somehow it just continued to make sense. And part of that was through playing Broadway shifts. Part of that was through playing writers’ rounds on Music Row. And part of it was just writing songs that we couldn’t think of anyone that would want to cut it other than us, which was cool.
When you did eventually come together, how did you land on the name Highway Home?
Stanton – Well, there’s an interstate that connects all three of our home states and it’s I-20, so that’s kind of our Highway Home.
Was there a turning point when you realized that becoming a group was that could really take off for the three of you?
Conner – When we first settled on wanting to do this, we had the thought, okay, we’re all going to be doing our solo careers because maybe we feel like we had something going on individually. But what started as what we wanted to be a side project quickly raised its hand and said, “Hey, Highway Home, this is the main project. This is what y’all are going to do hopefully forever.” So it was kind of unbelievable. We couldn’t believe it and we couldn’t be more stoked about it.
What would you say has been one of the biggest surprises or learning curves since starting this band?
Stanton – I would say probably just orchestrating putting routing together and just when it comes to touring, which we’ve been super, super blessed to have WME in our corner, especially our agent Doug. And he’s always throwing us bones and saying, “Hey, do you guys want to do this?” Which is so amazing. But it’s interesting because it’s like there’s three of us and while it helps to delegate who’s doing what, at the same time, sometimes things get lost on me because I thought you had it and he thought I had it. And so for me, that kind of stuff has definitely been the biggest learning curve at least.
You have already been on the road with some great artists, George Birge, Ashley Cooke, Priscilla Block. What do you guys feel like has been the biggest takeaway from opening for these acts?
Eamon – Being out with different artists, it kind of gives you an insight. One, how they work with their team because every team is going to have their similarities, but all of them are also going to have their differences and for us to be able to watch how they navigate, one, just like Stanton was saying, booking and how they’re actually navigating their tour of how to get from one place to another, but also just watching their set and seeing how they interact with crowds and what song they’re putting here, why that song is there, it’s leading into this new song they’re coming out with. So honestly, yeah, being out with different people just helps us as we hope to in the future have a headline tour and be able to take from all these different people of what they do so well and honestly try to just blend that in the future, whenever we’re fortunate enough to have our own headline tour.
Stanton – We also look to see how these people that we’re playing with carry themselves and how they treat us as openers, which not to say we’re showing up with that in mind, but it just sticks with you no matter how somebody treats you. And we’ve been really lucky to hit the road with quite a few people that have just kind of extended a hand to us and been like, “Y’all come on the bus,” or, “Y’all hang out with us after the show,” and just giving us pointers and just making us feel welcome. That’s the biggest part of it, I think, when you’re opening for someone is when you feel like they’re kind of untouchable, that makes it a little bit harder to settle in and feel good about what you’re doing, but we’ve been lucky.
Photo Courtesy of Highway Home
What can fans can expect from these six songs off your debut EP?
Conner – Yeah, these six songs, we’re so excited about them and it’s so cool because we’ve already gotten to put out two singles off of this EP, “No More Drinkin’ Songs” and “Never Grow Up.” And those, I mean, to date are by far the songs that we’re just so excited about. It’s been awesome. And the crazy thing is that the rest of the EP, we look at it and we’re like, “Okay, it’s even better.” So we’re really excited for folks to hear it. There’s three lead singers in our band. If the time comes that one of us has to be the lead singer, we’ll figure that out when we get there. But as of now, people are actually latching onto the fact that three voices are showing up in different places and our individual influences are really shining through. And so the track list is out in public and Eamon’sgot this song “Another Morning” that he brought to us and Stanton and I did not write, but Eamondid with our buddy Ryan Cohen and I think some others. But that one just shows such a really cool aspect of what Eamoncan do. And it’s this three-quarter time, really, really cool kind of sexy song that we’re excited for folks to hear, hopefully people latch onto.
We’ve got a song that’s called “Prettiest You I’ve Ever Seen,” and when we wrote that, I had the idea on my tractor cutting the grass and I was like, “Man, I think we could write something cool with this.” And it completely reflects the music that I grew up on. It has a lot of influence from Restless Heart, and that’s my favorite group of all time. And so I would say that this EP is so filled with our personal influences, and it’s consistent in the sense that it’s all Highway Home, but it also, each track and each artist or each one of us that sings it brings in a little bit of personal influence as well. So it is going to let the audience in on who we are, what kind of music we grew up on, and what sounds we’re drawn to.
What led you guys to title the project, “No More Drinkin’ Songs”?
Stanton – I would say that song’s been waiting around for a couple of years, and since it was written, there’s just been people saying, “Oh man, this one’s really good. This one’s special. It’s different. It hits you with a punchline that you’re really not ready for.” And so when we brought it forward and we started working with our producer and manager and label and so on, it was kind of like every person that was joining our team was sort of latching onto that song a little bit, and we love it too. And we could tell just by the response it was getting in a live environment that, okay, this is a song that we want to represent ourselves with. So when we put it out, we had just signed with a label and it was kind of our announcement to the world like, “Hey, we’re going public and we’re really getting after it and chasing this.” That was kind of the song that we dropped going along with that. So we figured it’s kind of cool to name the EP after something that commemorates that era for us and also just a song that when you see the title, you might think, “Well, I got to check that out because that sounds like a song I’m not going to like.” But then once you hear it, it’s quite the opposite.
Highway Home; No More Drinkin’ Songs
What’s something about the three of you that you think fans might not fully understand or know yet?
Conner – I think that what would be great for people to know, and honestly, a lot of folks that I would say have become fans of us have come to know this because in this stage of our career, we’re having so much fun because every show we play, we’re allotting until someone tells us not to, time to go stand and talk to people. And connecting with people is pretty much the entire reason that we get to do what we get to do. We’re in the people business, we just happen to make music and we just love getting to know folks and being personal. And I think that everyone should just know that we’re very normal dudes. There’s no kind of a mystery about us. And sure, when we’re wearing nice outfits and on a fancy music video and whatnot, we may seem like we’re some kind of something else, but we’re very just normal dudes that cut our own grass. So I think people should know that.
What other goals do you have as a band right now?
Conner – Moving forward, we’re just really excited to continue to hone in on our sound, kind of similar to what I was saying about the EP. The way that all of our individual influences are coming into this music, along with our group goal of what we believe Highway Home is and can be, it’s still kind of dialing in. We’re definitely on it, but it’s an adventure every day. The songs are continuing to be written and we’re figuring out which ones make the most sense for us. We love writing the songs and we love recording the songs, but what we love the most is playing the songs and seeing how they connect to audiences. And so audiences are helping us figure out exactly what Highway Home is going to be and continue to be moving forward.
Eamon – I would say to add onto that, even for anybody that is listening that is going to be at a show, we play a lot of these unreleased songs that Conner was talking about that we love and that honestly, some of them have been recorded and some of them we’re still figuring out if we are going to record. So if you’re at a show and you hear something that you love, please come up and give us feedback because at the end of the day, we’re going to put out the music that we love, but we want to put out music that the listener loves as well. So yeah, that would be definitely something that I would love for people to hear from us.
