Republican campaign groups are moving money from some competitive races to defensive contests in traditionally conservative states, a sign that party leaders see a more difficult path to preserving their House and Senate majorities in November’s midterm elections. The spending shift, reported Oct. 7, comes as Republican groups continue advertising across the electoral map but find their financial advantage is not enough to protect every seat they had hoped to contest. In recent days, they have pulled back from races they no longer consider winnable and redirected resources to seats that appear newly vulnerable. In the Senate, Republican groups have stopped investing in a GOP-held North Carolina seat, even though President Donald Trump has carried the state three times. They have instead begun spending to defend a seat in South Carolina and increased advertising in Kansas, where Democrats have not won a Senate race in nearly a century. Republicans are also scaling back their House defense in Nebraska. National party groups have given up on a blue-leaning seat held for a decade by retiring Rep. Don Bacon. The moves underscore the stakes of the midterms: control of both chambers is on the line, and campaign organizations are concentrating resources where they believe they can still protect seats. For voters, the shifts could mean more political advertising in states that have not recently been at the center of closely contested Senate races.