Thom Tillis Projected to Defeat Kay Hagan in North Carolina

(L) US SENATE / (C) NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY / (R) SEAN HAUGH FOR SENATE(WASHINGTON) — Based on exit polls and analysis of the vote in so far, ABC News projects that state House Speaker Thom Tillis will defeat Sen. Kay Hagan in a race Democrats hoped would be a bright spot on Election Night.

Hagan’s seat is the seventh to flip to Republican control this cycle, padding the GOP’s new majority.

Hagan, who entered office with the help of President Obama’s coalition of support in 2008, did not receive the margins of support she needed from urban voters in Charlotte and Greensboro to counter Republican turnout in rural parts of the state.

Both candidates ran intensely negative campaigns.

Tillis, like Republicans across the map, depicted Hagan as a rubber stamp for President Obama and criticized her for missed congressional hearings and personally benefiting from federal stimulus money through a company owned by her husband.

Democrats localized the race, accusing Tillis of leading a conservative state legislature responsible for cutting public education funding and denying equal pay to women.

The candidates, parties and outside groups spent more than $100 million on the race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, making it the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history.

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