Tillis’ fundraising numbers highlight Republican money struggles vs. Democrats in NC
Democrats in many of North Carolina’s top statewide races far out-raised their Republican opponents over the past few months.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham raised $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2020, a record-breaking amount for a quarter for a Senate candidate. Incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, raised $2.6 million from April through June, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.
And Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, seeking a second term, raised nearly $6 million from mid-February to the end of June, more than doubling the $2.4 million haul of Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, his opponent in November.
Federal and state candidates were required to file campaign finance reports this week.
The state is considered one of the nation’s top battlegrounds for winning the presidency and control of the U.S. Senate, both currently in Republican hands. Cooper won the governor’s mansion by less than 11,000 votes in 2016.
Tillis reported having $6.8 million cash on hand for the November election as of July 1. Cunningham, who has trailed Tillis throughout the campaign cycle in cash on hand, had $6.6 million on July 1.
Outside groups already have indicated they plan to invest heavily in North Carolina. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the chamber, but Democratic challengers, like Cunningham, have posted impressive fundraising totals in several of the top-flight races.
Fundraising challenges
During the second quarter of 2020, the U.S. has dealt with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic; the civil unrest and protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer; and most recently, a surge in coronavirus cases across vast parts of the South and West.
Cunningham out-raised Tillis $4.4 million to $2.1 million in the first three months of 2020, prompting Tillis’ campaign manager to signal concern about the “need to ramp up our fundraising in order to keep pace.”
The 2014 U.S. Senate race between Tillis and then-Sen. Kay Hagan was the most expensive in history at that time, with candidates and outside groups spending nearly $124 million.
“We always knew the time would come when (Sen.) Chuck Schumer and his far-left allies would try to buy this seat, for their rubber-stamp, Cal Cunningham,” Tillis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening.
“Senator Tillis was outspent when he won in 2014, and while we currently have a cash-on-hand advantage, he will win while being outspent this time around. Voters are smart, and they will reject the extreme liberal agenda that Cunningham, Schumer and his deep pocketed cronies are trying to force on the people of North Carolina.”
Cunningham’s campaign said it received contributions from more than 29,000 North Carolinians.
“If you thought things couldn’t get worse for Senator Tillis, they just did,” Cunningham campaign manager Devan Barber said in a statement. “In November when Cal takes this seat back for North Carolina, Tillis will be quickly forgotten following a failed Senate career and unbelievably weak candidacy.”
The Senate race is considered a toss-up by national outlets, though Cunningham has led in seven of the last nine polls conducted in the race since the beginning of June. One had the race tied.
Libertarian nominee Shannon Bray and Constitution candidate Kevin Hayes are also on the November ballot.
Fundraising in NC governor’s race
Down the ballot in races like those for governor, attorney general and seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court, Democrats lapped their Republican opponents several times over.
Going into the second half of 2020, Cooper’s campaign has $7 to spend for every $1 that Forest has.
”It’s clear from these numbers that North Carolinians understand the importance of re-electing Governor Cooper,” said Liz Doherty, a Cooper campaign spokeswoman, when Cooper first announced his fundraising results.
“That’s why grassroots supporters are mobilizing in a big way to give this campaign the momentum it needs to communicate, reach every voter, and win,” Doherty said.
Cooper’s campaign went into July with $14 million in cash on hand. Forest’s campaign had $2 million in cash at the start of July.
In other high profile statewide races, Democrats have kept up the trends at the top of the ballot.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein raised $2 million for his re-election bid, nearly 10 times as much as Republican challenger Jim O’Neill.
And in the race to be the next chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court — a race between two current justices — Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, raised $600,000 while Republican Paul Newby raised just over $100,000.
Outside spending and PACs
Campaigns aren’t the only way the candidates get financial support, however.
Candidates on both sides will have “dark money” groups that support them but don’t disclose their donors.
Some, including both Cooper and Forest, also have support from outside committees that disclose their donors but, unlike their individual campaigns, don’t have any limits on how much any one person or group can give.
In the case of Cooper and Forest, both have such groups that spend their money largely on them, but also some on other statewide candidates from their parties.
The pro-Cooper group is called the NC Democratic Leadership Committee. It raised $6 million last quarter and had $9 million cash on hand.
The pro-Forest group is called the NC Republican Council of State Committee.
Combining the Super PAC numbers with the individual campaigns, Cooper and his affiliated group have $23 million, or nearly 10 times as much as Forest and his affiliated group: $2.9 million in cash.
Forest also can fundraise for a separate PAC called Truth & Prosperity, but can’t coordinate other activities with it. It was formerly bankrolled mostly by Greg Lindberg, the Durham businessman who was recently convicted of attempting to disguise bribes as campaign finance contributions to another Republican politician.
Forest was never charged in connection with that case, although Lindberg’s trial and subsequent conviction hurt that pro-Forest PAC’s fundraising.
Lindberg hasn’t given any political contributions in North Carolina this year, state records show, and the Truth & Prosperity PAC raised less than $200,000 in the last quarter. But it still has $1.8 million on hand — almost as much as Forest’s campaign and Council of State group combined.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 9:38 PM.
