How much Stein, Berger, Hall and other NC politicians have been raising in 2025
Welcome to our Under the Dome newsletter that focuses on the governor. I’m Avi Bajpai, filling in today for Dawn Vaughan.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein doesn’t face reelection for another three years, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped or slowed down when it comes to raising money.
In fact, in the first six months of this year, Stein’s campaign committee reported raising just under $2.5 million.
By comparison, during the same period, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger reported raising over $1.7 million, and Republican House Speaker Destin Hall reported raising just under $750,000. Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch reported raising just over $141,000, and House Democratic Leader Robert Reives reported total receipts just shy of $25,000.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, who was elected by his caucus to that leadership position earlier this year, raised just under $234,000, while House Majority Leader Brenden Jones raised nearly $75,000. Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon raised $39,000. House Rules Committee Chairman John Bell raised more than $92,000. Senate Democratic Whip Jay Chaudhuri raised just under $161,000.
On the Council of State, other top fundraisers were Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who reported raising around $587,000 in the first six months of the year; Democratic Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, who raised nearly $133,000, and Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek, whose campaign brought in just under $34,000.
These campaign finance reports covering the first half of the year, from Jan. 1 to June 30, reveal how even in an off-year and just months after the conclusion of the last election, political fundraising has continued apace.
It’s only going to accelerate as we get closer to next year’s election, which will feature a U.S. Senate contest that is already generating expectations to become the most expensive of all time, and the fight for legislative power in the N.C. General Assembly, where Democrats will be hoping to end the Republican “working supermajority” that has so far enacted eight bills over Stein’s vetoes.
Stein’s fundraising and spending
Taking a closer look at Stein’s latest fundraising report, it shows the campaign had just over $1 million in operating expenses during the first half of this year.
That included money spent on digital advertising, fundraising consulting, direct mail campaigns, texting campaigns, and payroll for staff. Combined with other expenses like contributions to other candidates and political committees, in-kind contributions, and refunds and reimbursements from the campaign, Stein reported total expenditures of $1.6 million.
The $2.5 million the campaign reported bringing in is made up of a mix of thousands of small-dollar donations and a hefty share from more than 170 individuals who gave the maximum allowed amount of $6,800. Those max contributions on their own add up to more than $1.1 million.
His campaign had $1.9 million in the bank coming out of last year’s election, and at the end of June, the campaign said it had slightly more than $2.7 million on hand.
In off-years, candidates and political fundraising committees are required to file reports twice a year.
The first “semi-annual” reports covering the first half of the year were due at the State Board of Elections by July 25. The second such report, covering the final six months of the year, will be due on Jan. 30, 2026.
Catch up on more North Carolina politics news by listening to our Under the Dome podcast, which posts every Tuesday morning. On this week’s episode, higher education reporter Korie Dean talks with our politics team colleague Sophia Bailly about the Trump administration’s impact on international enrollment on college campuses, and whether North Carolina’s campuses could see fewer international students come this fall. Read more from Korie and Sophia’s new reporting on this here.
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This story was originally published August 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
