Things are rather dismal in the Tar Heel state right now. UNC supporters find themselves watching Chapel Hill implode to the gleeful satisfaction of a reactionary legislature. That same legislature stands poised to pass a budget which offers a trivial raise to public-school teachers at a time when inflation is on the rise. Schoolteachers, like professors, are likely on their way out the door. And the Republicans behind all these baleful developments are preparing to draw district lines so gerrymandered they will lock in conservative dominance for at least another decade. Hence the despondence overtaking thinking North Carolinians (who do exist).

What, then, is happening that should cheer the spirits? If you are a Democrat, that encouragement should come from the United States Senate race. It’s early; that much goes without saying. But contrary to prior Senate contests that began with long periods of purgatorial yearning for a credible Democratic candidate, the 2022 race is unfolding in a way that should redound to Democrats’ advantage, on the red and blue sides.

First, the Democrats. Having had to settle for lower-tier candidates so many times since Erskine Bowles’s two tries at making it to Washington, the party now has two solid, attractive options in former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and current state Senator Jeff Jackson. They’re very different candidates, running very different campaigns, but that reflects the diversity that is the Democratic Party’s greatest strength. Jackson has a biography that’s eerily similar to Cal Cunningham’s, but his campaign exudes the Millennial energy of a Beto O’Rourke. Beasely, for her part, is a trailblazer and a star–arguably the highest-ranking African American woman politician in the history of a state that was born in slavery.

Fundraising reports from the second quarter should fuel Democrats’ satisfaction with the race’s early dynamics. In it, both Beasely and Jackson posted solid numbers. Beasely raised $1.28 million dollars, a very healthy sum for the first quarter of a campaign and especially impressive given that she has only been in the race for eight weeks. Jackson compounded his strong first quarter with a $700,000 haul. By contrast, Cal Cunningham only raised $700,000 in his debut quarter, and that number included a $200,000 loan from himself. Regardless of who wins the 2022 primary, Democrats will have a capable fundraiser leading the ticket.

Now for the Republicans. If there is anything that counts as the NCGOP’s specialty, it is trainwrecks. The Republican primary for U.S. Senate primary has all the rubbernecking-worthy dysfunction of HB2 and the Nikole Hannah-Jones travesty. Pat McCrory, the early frontrunner, suffered a trademark Trumpian insult to his face at the party’s convention and has shown all the indiscipline reminiscent of earlier, failed campaigns. Receiving the Orange Autocrat’s endorsement was Congressman Ted Budd, arguably the least electable Republican in the race, and the Club for Growth has promised to spend $5 million boosting Budd’s effort. Ted Budd’s campaign has the strongest fundamentals in the race. He owns a gun store and had monster trucks in his campaign video.

Even if McCrory survives to the general, Democrats are likely to have a candidate quality advantage and to be coming out of a primary that’s done significantly less damage than the Republican cobra-and-mongoose affair. At least for now, Beasley and Jackson are running positive campaigns, in contrast to the storm of insults that Republicans are already inflicting on each other. This will be a tough race that Democrats may very well lose given the patterns common in midterm elections. But as it stands today, their outlook is about as bright as they have any right to expect.