GMAT Sentence Correction (SC) | Re: In the high-profile Senate race in North Carolina

Construction: Neither... nor -> eliminate A and B
SVA: Subject is singular, therefore need to use "has" not "have" -> eliminate C
Not sure now, but my guess would be that assuming D is grammatically correct, it is preferable to have all the components that modify "Thom Tillis" in one clause, which leaves us with E.
Or is there an ambiguity issue with D?

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