The Republican U.S. Senate primary in North Carolina is officially one week away, and the crowded field of candidates have been attacking each other nonstop since the onset of the brutal primary and are “fighting for survival” in the final days. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• The primary has been defined by nasty infighting and a series of headlines highlighting the attacks that will leave the eventual Republican nominee damaged and the GOP reeling. 
  • The Hill: GOP scrambles to unify in divisive North Carolina Senate primary

• • News & Observer: NC Republican Senate hopefuls focus on Ted Budd’s absence from debate stage

• • Associated Press: NC GOP Senate Primary Intensifies as Campaigns Go Negative

• • Politico: Nasty N.C. Senate primary tests Trump’s sway over the GOP

• • Salon: N.C. GOP candidates struggle to out-Trump each other — who will be the Biggest Loser?

• • Axios: GOP attacks its own
  • WXII: NC GOP Senate primary turns nasty
• Yesterday, McCrory continued to take shots at Budd’s campaign, saying: “Ted Budd has done nothing during his six years in the U.S. Congress. No one knew him. He had no record of accomplishment.” 
• Former president Trump has only escalated the tensions in the race, causing “dissension” and “frustration” for Republicans who will have to “scramble” to unite their party following the divisive primary.
• Outside spending has dominated the primary and “drawn the ire” of candidates, giving way to a barrage of insults toward Budd, calling the attack ads “disturbing” and an “insult to the people of North Carolina.”
  • WRAL: Editorial: Have outside forces taken over North Carolina’s GOP?

• • Charlotte Observer: ‘Election being bought’: Budd’s outside support consolidates GOP Senate candidate criticism

• • WRAL: Political ad spending surges in NC, boosted by outside groups

• • WRAL: School-choice PAC floods NC airwaves in heated US Senate GOP primary

• • Charlotte Observer: A new, brutal mailer on Pat McCrory is a troubling sign for Republicans

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