NC senator asks for investigation of ties between his colleague and a lobbyist
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Democratic Sen. Everitt requests state probe into $59,000 campaign payment.
- Review finds over 20% of Craven’s funds came from donors tied to lobbyist clients.
- Everitt asks state auditor to examine transparency of lawmakers’ directed grants.
A state senator has asked the State Board of Elections and the state auditor to look into a colleague’s campaign activity as it relates to a powerful lobbyist and his wife.
Sen. Terence Everitt, a Wake County Democrat, wants the elections board to investigate the nearly $59,000 paid by state Sen. Dave Craven’s campaign to a company owned by the wife of lobbyist Kevin Wilkinson for consulting services. The News & Observer last week reported the spending, which appears to be the only campaign work the business has done.
A review of Craven’s campaign reports by Bob Hall, the retired executive director of Democracy NC, shows that more than 20% of the money Craven raised in the last election came from people with ties to Wilkinson’s clients. Some of the campaign donors have been successful in winning favorable law changes or state appropriations.
“These circumstances raise questions about whether the payments made by the campaign committee (to Megan Wilkinson’s business) were for legitimate campaign services and whether those expenditures were properly reported under North Carolina campaign finance law,” Everitt wrote.
Craven in the N&O report said that Megan Wilkinson is a longtime friend who had done “planning and managing” of campaign events. She, her husband and Craven are UNC Charlotte alums who attended the university at roughly the same time.
But Craven, a Randolph County Republican, did not respond to the N&O’s requests for documentation showing what work Megan Wilkinson’s business was paid for.
Everitt asked the board to request and review that documentation.
“Given the public interest in maintaining confidence in our campaign finance system, I respectfully request that the Board review the relevant campaign finance reports and any supporting documentation necessary to determine whether the payments in question represent legitimate campaign expenditures and whether all reporting requirements under North Carolina law have been satisfied,” he wrote.
The N&O wasn’t able to reach Craven or the Wilkinsons on Tuesday.
Everitt wants State Auditor Dave Boliek to investigate the billions of dollars lawmakers have handed out in “directed grants” to various government, nonprofit and for-profit entities, some of which are clients of Wilkinson’s.
“Recent public reporting has highlighted the intersection of campaign fundraising, lobbying relationships, and legislative appropriations in North Carolina,” Everitt wrote. “While that reporting may concern particular circumstances, it also raises broader questions about whether the directed grant system provides sufficient transparency and accountability in the allocation of public funds.”
In an interview, Everitt said Republican lawmakers have been directing public money to people with connections and wealthy interests who have the ability to boost their campaigns financially at the expense of everyone else.
“They’ve had other priorities with that money for the last 15 years,” Everitt said. “I mean, we should be investing in ourselves and in our infrastructure and our people and our public schools and our roads and bridges and hospitals.”
Everitt has been a state lawmaker since his election to the House in 2018. He first won election to the Senate in 2024 and is seeking reelection this year. He’s also the executive director of the nonprofit N.C. Voter Protection Alliance, which was formed in June last year. Michael Weisel, an attorney and former Wake County Democratic Party chairman, filed the incorporation papers.
Everitt has been one of the more outspoken Democrats in the legislature and has paid a price for it in both chambers, which Republicans have held with near or outright supermajorities with the help of redistricting. In 2023, then-Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, moved Everitt’s legislative office into a former supply closet in the basement after Everitt requested an investigation into Moore’s romantic relationship with a state employee who was married at the time.
In November, Everitt received a written rebuke from Senate Rules Committee Chair Bill Rabon for remarks Everitt made during the vote to redistrict the state’s 14 congressional seats. President Donald Trump had requested that Republican-controlled states redraw districts to expand GOP control. And North Carolina lawmakers’ changes are expected to bump up the Republicans’ control from a 10-4 to an 11-3 split.
North Carolina is considered a purple state, with Democrats and Republicans serving in statewide offices, but state lawmakers draw the districts for themselves and U.S. House members.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 5:00 AM.