🍁 Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning a fall visit to North Carolina to fundraise for Michael Whatley's upcoming Senate campaign, we have learned.

Why it matters: Senior Republican officials think the North Carolina contest will be among the most expensive Senate races of 2026 — and that every dollar will matter.

• 💰 "It's always the most expensive race in U.S. history. It will be again," retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said at an Axios Live event on Wednesday.
• Tillis, a Republican, announced he won't seek reelection after clashing with President Trump over the president's "big, beautiful bill."

🚪 Behind closed doors: GOP leaders had given Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and a North Carolina native who had considered running, the right of first refusal.

• But during a phone call Thune had with Lara Trump and her husband, Eric Trump, this month, Lara Trump indicated she was leaning against entering the race.
• When it became clear Lara Trump would not run, Thune turned his attention to wooing Whatley, who was North Carolina GOP chair before Trump handpicked him to be the Republican National Committee chair last year.
• Thune called Whatley last week and encouraged him to run.

Then, on July 16, Whatley attended a reception hosted by the Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC.

• During the gathering, attended by about 75 top donors and senators, the Republican leader introduced Whatley as the party's nominee for North Carolina Senate.

☎️ The intrigue: Trump and Thune called Whatley on Monday and encouraged him to jump into the race quickly.

• During the call, Thune pledged the party machinery would consolidate around Whatley.

The big picture: Whatley is expected to soon step down from his RNC role and will have the full backing of Trump and Thune.

• It is anticipated he will face off against former Gov. Roy Cooper, who is preparing to launch his campaign next week.

The bottom line: By lining up behind Whatley, Trump and Republican leaders are hoping to avoid a divisive primary.

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— Alex Isenstadt

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is accusing Republicans of using a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to "pay off" GOP lawmakers for their support of the "big, beautiful bill," we scooped earlier today.

Why it matters: The new line of attack is meant to supercharge Democrats' campaign against Trump's marquee legislation — and the Republicans who backed it — just as lawmakers head home for the August recess.

• 📝 Schumer and more than a dozen other Senate Democrats wrote a letter today demanding clarity on how the fund — created to ease the brunt of GOP Medicaid cuts — will be distributed to states.
• "Republicans in Congress hastily developed the rural health slush fund to buy their members' votes and give their caucus political cover for voting for the reconciliation bill," the lawmakers wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz.

🏥 Catch up quick: Republican leaders on Capitol Hill included the $50 billion fund in Trump's sweeping domestic policy package to assuage intraparty concerns about the potential widespread closure of rural hospitals due to the bill's historic cuts to Medicaid.

• The fund was particularly important in the Senate, in which it helped win key GOP votes, most notably those of Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

What they're saying: Democrats raised concerns that several Republican lawmakers have publicly touted the amount of money their states will receive from the fund, despite little information on how those decisions will be made.

• "We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal," the lawmakers said in the letter.

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— Stephen Neukam