The U.S. Senate race in North Carolina is expected to be the most expensive in state history. Now, republican group announced another investment to fund ads in support of Michael Whatley.

Americans for Prosperity Action is announcing $5.6 million in national advertising in seven battleground states. One of them is here in North Carolina.

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“Tired of higher bills? So is Whatley. Sick of gridlock standing in the way? Whatley is too,” the new advertisement from APA said.

The spot is part of its seven-figure investment in Michael Whatley’s campaign, painting him as an every-man candidate who is not a career politician.

The announcement comes a day after an Elon University poll found Roy Cooper with an 11 point lead in the race, attracting 53 percent of likely voters, over the 42 percent who favored Whatley. Five percent of those polled were undecided.

"Whatley has been narrowing the gap a little bit. He obviously has a lot of work to do to get people to know who he is, especially compared to someone like Roy Cooper who is almost a universal figure in state politics. You know, he's got to convince people one to pay attention to him, and you know, two just to know what he's about," said WRAL State House Reporter Will Doran.

Doran said the timing of the APA's announcement is not surprising shortly after the poll found Whatley is gaining on Cooper but is still behind.

"He has some work to do, but what this shows is that the national GOP is not giving up on his candidacy," Doran said.

Cooper has focused his campaign largely on affordability as inflation has continued rising under Republican President Donald Trump.

Whatley has focused more on public safety, accusing Cooper and other Democrats of being soft on crime.

This support from APA comes weeks after the Senate Majority PAC, a democratic aligned group pledged an additional $11 million in a push to get Cooper elected.

02:08 When Tom Tillis's run, I mean, that race hit around $100 million. And that, you know, shattered records as the most expensive, and like you said, we're three months out and we're already close to close to matching that with a lot of spending still to go.

WRAL will be alongside both candidates they close with week on the campaign trail. Whatley is expected in Garner and Cooper will visit Vance County.