Amid undecided GOP primary, NC Senate leader Phil Berger creates legal fund
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Berger created a 527 legal expense fund March 5 that could fund litigation.
- Page leads by 23 after provisionals; outstanding ballots and recounts possible.
- As a 527, the fund can take nationwide donations; NC filing due March 15.
Facing an uphill battle to hold onto his position as one of North Carolina’s most powerful politicians, Senate leader Phil Berger has created a legal fund that could be used to fight over the election in court.
Paperwork filed with the IRS shows that a “Phil Berger Legal Expense Fund” was created on March 5, just two days after the primary election at a time when Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page led Berger by two votes.
A spokesperson for Page’s campaign said that he had also created a legal expense fund, though a review of the IRS and State Board of Elections’ databases found no record of it on Tuesday.
Since election night, Page has expanded his lead to 23 votes after provisional ballots were counted in Rockingham and Guilford counties.
But the race isn’t over yet. Counties still have to receive outstanding military and absentee ballots through Thursday. From there, candidates can file challenges to certain ballots or request a recount.
And once those administrative processes are exhausted, the race could always end up in court.
If it does, Berger’s new legal expense fund — which can draw donations nationwide without the same limits as regular campaign finance committees — could be used to pay for the litigation.
Jonathan Felts, a spokesperson for Berger’s campaign, said the creation of the fund did not mean any legal action was planned and instead was just a platform to pay lawyers to “(monitor and evaluate) the situation.”
Berger’s legal fund does not yet appear in North Carolina’s campaign finance system, so no information on potential donors or expenditures is available.
Candidates are required to file reports of legal expense funds to the State Board of Elections within 10 days of their creation, meaning Berger has until March 15 to do so.
North Carolina is no stranger to high-profile contested elections.
After Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs narrowly won the 2024 state Supreme Court race, her Republican opponent, Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, attempted to overturn the results in court for six months.
The two candidates’ legal expense funds collectively brought in nearly $2 million throughout the legal battle, drawing donations from out-of-state megadonors, local attorneys and, in one case, a sitting judge who could have been asked to rule on the case.
In the aftermath, Republican lawmakers passed a bill that critics warned could make those donations secret. The bill, called the Personal Privacy Protection Act, prohibits the disclosure of donors to nonprofit organizations.
However, Brett Kappel, a campaign finance attorney, told The N&O that the bill’s disclosure prohibition would not appear to apply to Berger’s fund, since it was established as a 527 political organization rather than a traditional nonprofit.
Danielle Battaglia contributed to this report.
