Tillis endorses Hines, police group backs Nickel in competitive Triangle congressional race

A political action committee affiliated with Tillis recently gave Hines’ campaign $2,900, according to Tillis adviser Jordan Shaw. The total is the maximum contribution allowed by the Federal Election Commission.

Hines is competing against Democratic state Sen. Wiley Nickel in the competitive 13th Congressional District, which includes Johnston County and parts of Wake, Wayne and Harnett counties. Nickel also picked up a key endorsement of his own this week from an influential law enforcement group that has supported some of the state’s top Republicans in the past, including Tillis.

The Tillis-aligned group also backed a number of other Republicans, including the two running for a pair of state Supreme Court seats and several General Assembly candidates.

“Senator Tillis knows North Carolina can't afford more inflation-causing spending sprees from Nancy Pelosi, so he's doing what he can to get Republicans elected across the state,” Shaw told WRAL News.

Hines’ campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the candidate’s thoughts about Tillis’ involvement in the race.

The contributions from Tillis’ group, NC Red, were first reported on Friday in the NC Insider.

Tillis has had sizable sway in North Carolina this year. In the May primary, he helped defeat U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn after the bombastic 27-year-old called Tillis a Republican In Name Only. Tillis instead backed state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who narrowly defeated Cawthorn in a crowded GOP primary field.

Hines, another 27-year-old Republican, has embraced similar hardline policies as Cawthorn, but insists he’s more interested in governing than the congressman had been. The two appeared on the campaign trail last year in western North Carolina. Hines and Cawthorn also had speaking slots at an April 9 rally held by former President Donald Trump.

“I don't know who's better looking, him or Madison,” Trump told the crowd.

Hines, who has long touted Trump’s endorsement, also joined the former president at a recent event in Wilmington.

Tillis represents a more centrist wing of the Republican Party, which could resonate with more moderate voters in the district Hines is seeking to represent.

Nickel, meanwhile, picked up a key endorsement this week from the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association — support that comes as Hines’ supporters hammer Nickel on his background as a criminal defense attorney.

Ads paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee have implied that Nickel, through his profession, supports sex offenders criminals, drug trafickers and people charged with domestic violence. The group also says Nickel has supported efforts to defund law enforcement agencies, a claim Nickel says is “totally inaccurate.”

Nickel says he supports funding the police, and he supports “better pay, better benefits and a secure retirement if we want to have good people serving in law enforcement.”

The police group has endorsed high-profile conservative Republicans this cycle and in previous election years. Last week, it endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, who is running for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat against Democrat Cheri Beasley. The group previously endorsed Beasley in her 2020 bid for chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

It’s the third time Nickel has been endorsed by the NCPBA. The support could benefit a candidate in the once-conservative district, which has become more moderate as newcomers have flocked to the area. Nickel has sought to skate that middle lane, and he thinks the endorsement will help him against a Trump-backed conservative such as Hines.  

“It shows that I'm a different kind of Democrat, [one] who's going to stand up to the extremes in both parties,” Nickel told WRAL News. He added: “We're the moderate in this race, and it's not even close.”