The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says it is running the pair of similar ads in the Charlotte, North Carolina, market in the last stage of the Senate campaign between Republican Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. The ads suggest Tillis used his pull as state House speaker to get "a toll-lane" bill through the North Carolina General Assembly and signed into law. The ads say property owners who could stand to gain financially from the project donated $26,000 to his Senate campaign the day after the bill was signed into law. The ads paint a blurry picture of what transpired, ignoring that the I-77 project had already been approved by state transportation officials well before the bill cited in the commercials passed and that Democrats also supported the bill. The measure however, does offer regions additional public money if they agree to tolls to pay for other projects. Some ACN donors are involved in an investment company that bought land along I-77, and the ads imply that such "friends" of Tillis will see the land value soar as a result of the highway project.