In the intraparty battle for the GOP, score Round 1 for the Republican establishment over the tea party. 

CNN projects that North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis has won the state's GOP Senate primary. Tillis, who was backed by many mainstream Republicans, topped 40% of the primary vote Tuesday, avoiding a runoff in July. 

Tillis beat a bunch of more conservative candidates for the chance to face off this November against first-term Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is considered very vulnerable in the general election. Flipping her seat and five others held by Democrats would give Republicans control of the Senate. 

In his victory speech, Tillis slammed Hagan's record, tying her to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and calling them "an echo chamber for President Obama's worst ideas." 

"We need to be clear, it's not the end of a primary, it's really the beginning of a primary mission, which has been the mission all along and that is to beat Kay Hagan and to make Harry Reid irrelevant," he said. 

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"You know, their failures, both Obama's and Kay Hagan's, are obvious," Tillis added. 

"We know a lot of them -- our government is borrowing too much money and it's dangerously in debt to China. Obamacare is not working. And Obama and Hagan's left-wing political agenda is driving up our energy prices and making our country less safe. 

"For six years, she's voted with Obama and against North Carolina," he said. 

Trailing Tillis is tea party activist Greg Brannon. He enjoyed the support of many tea party groups, other influential conservative organizations and endorsements from the likes of Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who joined Brannon on Monday at a rally in Charlotte. 
Who will he be running against in November?
Tillis beat a bunch of more conservative candidates for the chance to face off this November against first-term Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan