Rand Paul heading to the Carolinas

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is heading down to the Carolinas for a two-day campaign swing that includes a stop to boost North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R), whose Senate primary opponent received Paul’s endorsement.

{mosads}Paul will attend a trio of events in South Carolina, an early presidential primary state, on Sept. 30. The next day, he’ll head to North Carolina to stump with Tillis, who is facing a tough race against Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).

Paul broke with the party establishment to back Dr. Greg Brannon (R) during the GOP Senate primary last spring but did little to publicly help his longtime ally in the race and immediately endorsed Tillis after he won the primary. Paul’s now looking to help boost Tillis, who has trailed Hagan by a narrow margin in most recent public polling.

He’ll also stump with Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), an iconoclastic anti-war congressman and longtime friend of Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Jones beat back a primary challenge last spring as well.