--- title: GOP Primary Season Begins With Tea Party Defeat description: Establishment Republicans won a key primary victory in Senate battleground North Carolina, and a moderate will face Democratic Sen. Hagan canonical: https://time.com/90615/tea-party-north-carolina-hagan/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-07T11:53:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:41:45.343Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Primary Season Begins With Tea Party Defeat og:description: Establishment Republicans won a key primary victory in Senate battleground North Carolina, and a moderate will face Democratic Sen. Hagan og:url: https://time.com/90615/tea-party-north-carolina-hagan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7857ee23c87f0eb/69868e30d0b6f25a8c3042a8/nc_primary_election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1800 og:image:height: 1013 og:image:alt: nc_primary_election og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Primary Season Begins With Tea Party Defeat twitter:description: Establishment Republicans won a key primary victory in Senate battleground North Carolina, and a moderate will face Democratic Sen. Hagan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7857ee23c87f0eb/69868e30d0b6f25a8c3042a8/nc_primary_election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP Primary Season Begins With Tea Party Defeat > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=06333daf-418c-494a-9eb1-ea57e68dff4e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 7, 2014 11:53 AM UTC  N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, left, talks with voter Donald Parrott of Charlotte outside Precinct 75 at Holy Covenant UCC in Charlotte, N.C., on May 6, 2014 N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, left, talks with voter Donald Parrott of Charlotte outside Precinct 75 at Holy Covenant UCC in Charlotte, N.C., on May 6, 2014 Jeff Siner—The Charlotte Observer/AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 7, 2014 11:53 AM UTC North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis [overcame](http://time.com/90377/n-c-lawmaker-wins-gop-senate-nomination/) Tea Party opposition Tuesday to nab the GOP nomination for the Senate race, winning a key [battle for establishment Republicans](http://time.com/88298/gop-republican-primary-tea-party-establishment/) as the party seeks to win a majority in the Senate. Tillis will be running against Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, a vulnerable first-term incumbent in a purple state that has been at the center of the national debate over the president’s health care law. In Tuesday’s primary, Tillis fended off a Tea Party-backed libertarian and a Baptist pastor, and was endorsed by establishment groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Right to Life Committee, and GOP moderates such as former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. By winning the race with a solid 48 percent of the vote, Tillis avoided a costly runoff that could have weakened Republicans in the race against Hagan, the Associated Press reports. Other races Tuesday handed Republican incumbents victories as well. First-term Rep. David Joyce of Ohio overcame a Tea Party rival with heavy Chamber of Commerce support, while GOP Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana fended off a challenge from the right. In the marquee North Carolina contest, the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, has run about $7 million worth of television ads against Hagan for supporting the healthcare law. \[[AP](http://time.com/90377/n-c-lawmaker-wins-gop-senate-nomination/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/90615/tea-party-north-carolina-hagan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/90615/tea-party-north-carolina-hagan/"},"headline":"GOP Primary Season Begins With Tea Party Defeat","datePublished":"2014-05-07T11:53:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:41:45.343Z","description":"Establishment Republicans won a key primary victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, pitting a moderate against Democratic Sen. 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