A rare summertime political investment by the DNC signals just how tight the governor's race here has become.

The Democratic National Committee is pledging to spend $1.5 million to help boost field operations for Democrat Mikey Sherrill.

It's one of the largest and earliest the organization has made to state Democrats during an off-year election cycle.

Now the announcement comes on the heels of a similar move by the Democratic Governors Association committing $20 million to the race.

According to recent statewide polls, Sherrill leads Republican Jack Ciatarelli by single digits.

But it's been roughly 60 years since Democrats have held the governorship for three consecutive terms and GOP voter registration has been rising since 2017, adding more than 430,000 voters to the rolls, narrowing Democrats' advantage from 1.1 million registered voters to 865,000.

Now that's still a very strong showing and Democrats also maintain control of the legislature and have a wide fundraising edge.

But analysts say the GOP has a real in here amid voter frustration over things like affordability and spiking energy prices.

The battle is heating up.

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