Tillis touts big cash edge on Democratic challengers entering election year
Sen. Thom Tillis raised $1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and carried more than $5 million into 2020 for his re-election bid, the North Carolina Republican’s campaign announced Thursday.
Friday is the deadline to file fourth-quarter fundraising totals with the Federal Election Commission.
Tillis’ successful challenge to then-Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014 was the most expensive race in U.S. Senate history at the time — with all candidates and outside groups spending nearly $124 million.
Tillis’ campaign manager Luke Blanchat said in a news release that the campaign entered 2020 “in a position of strength” with $5.3 million on hand, but acknowledged the projected cost of the race makes “it imperative that we accelerate the pace of our fundraising going forward.”
Tillis entered the fourth quarter with $7.7 million raised since the beginning of his six-year term in 2015, and $4.9 million cash on hand.
“Senator Tillis is no stranger to winning expensive races, and we are confident that his common-sense conservative message will attract the support necessary to achieve victory in November,” Blanchat said in the statement.
Cal Cunningham, the top fundraiser among five Democratic candidates, said he raised $1.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, pushing his total raised to $3.1 million since entering the race in June. He reported having $1.7 million cash on hand entering 2020.
Democratic state Sen. Erica Smith had raised $133,800 at the end of September. She has not yet released her fourth-quarter fundraising total.
“It will show we’re building support. We are on the rise. It’s going to be the highest quarter we’ve had so far,” Smith said of her fundraising this week.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller, Raleigh physician Atul Goel and Steve Swenson of Bunnlevel are also running for the Democratic nomination. Fuller reported raising $31,597 at the end of September.
Three other candidates are running for the GOP nomination: Paul Wright, Larry Holmquist and Sharon Hudson. None have filed fundraising reports with the FEC.
The primary is March 3.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the U.S. Senate, but both parties are hopeful they can have control of the chamber in 2021.
Democrats are targeting North Carolina, along with incumbents in Maine, Arizona and Colorado. Republicans are targeting incumbents in Alabama and Michigan — both states won by President Donald Trump in 2016.
Trump has tried to boost Tillis, endorsing him in June and sending out a fundraising appeal for Tillis and two other senators that resulted in 10,000 new donors to the Tillis’ campaign, Tillis tweeted in November.
Trump also headlined a “Save The Senate” event in early November at which Tillis and other senators were guests.
“We know full well the dynamics of the race will change next quarter when national liberals coalesce behind the winner and begin pouring everything they have into flipping this seat,” Blanchat said.
At the same point in the 2014 Tillis-Hagan race, Hagan had $6.8 million cash on hand and Tillis had about $800,000, according to The Associated Press. Tillis won the 2014 election with 48.8% of the vote to Hagan’s 47.2% — a difference of 45,608 votes.
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 January 30, 2020 at 1:01 PM.
