Raleigh – Senator Tillis launched a new TV ad today attempting to defend his record and refute a separate ad from conservative primary challenger Garland Tucker, an escalation of the already divisive Republican primary and a sign that “this may get nasty.”

Not only is Senator Tillis spending heavily to beat back a nasty primary challenge from conservative businessman Garland Tucker, something that’s “not ideal” for someone with “underwhelming” fundraising, he’s now on the defensive and stuck in a back-and-forth with Tucker. Reporters around the state are noticing that Tillis is in trouble:

Tillis’ latest defensive ad comes after several “red flags,” including an “underwhelming” fundraising quarter and new quarterly rankings that revealed Tillis “has the lowest approval rating (33 percent) of any sitting senator,” and after nonpartisan analysts shifted the race in Democrats direction to “toss up.”