Greens put $3M into NC Senate race

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and an affiliated group are putting $3 million into a home-stretch advertising campaign against Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-N.C.) reelection.

The television and digital ads from the LCV and its Victory Fund paint Burr as a Washington insider and a close ally to oil and other fossil fuels who hasn’t supported clean energy policies.

“He’s been in Washington two decades, and Burr’s got plenty to show for it,” a narrator in the ad says.

“Like the hundreds of thousands Burr’s taken from oil and energy companies,” it continues, “and the billions in tax breaks he’s voted for them.”

It goes on to say Burr and the oil industry both profit from him being in the Senate, but asks, “What’s he done for you?”

It’s a significant spend for the LCV, which has endorsed Democrat Deborah Ross in the race and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars pushing to get Burr out of the Senate.

The North Carolina election has emerged toward the end of the campaign season as one of the most competitive races. It is now attracting significant spending in the environmental advocacy community as a key opportunity for Democrats to take the Senate majority.

“Burr is right at home in Washington, going to bat to protect the profits of the oil and gas special interests that have spent over $700,000 to keep him in office — while getting himself a tidy profit too,” LCV National Campaigns Director Clay Schroers said in a statement.

Burr spokesman Jesse Hunt dismissed LCV as a “radical” organization.

“It’s no surprise that a radical left-wing group like LCV is trying to bail out a radical left-wing candidate like former ACLU lobbyist Deborah Ross,” Hunt said, repeating a criticism of Ross that the campaign has reiterated through the election season.

Burr has the endorsement of ClearPath Action Fund, a conservative clean energy advocacy group that has committed to spend at least $400,000.

That group, headed by entrepreneur Jay Faison, sees Burr as a clean energy champion, pointing to his support for hydropower, nuclear power, solar energy and natural gas.

The most recent polls have Burr just barely ahead of Ross or tied. A CNN/ORC International poll taken over the weekend has Burr ahead by 1 percentage point, well within the margin of error, but an NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll from the same period has them tied.