Trump-endorsed NC Republican Bo Hines swaps donations with candidates in other states
Until a few weeks ago, Bo Hines lived well outside the 13th Congressional District, where he’s running in a crowded GOP primary.
Hines hopped from district to district in 2021 before state lawmakers redrew the congressional maps and he settled on the 13th in the southeastern Triangle and Eastern North Carolina. That has made Hines an outsider and a target of local Republicans who are working against his election.
And that shows in his financial reports, which has him leaning on support from outside the district, outside the state, and his own wealth.
“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from Bo Hines’ campaign finance disclosures is that there is little evidence of homegrown in-district support, which makes sense because he is not homegrown or from the district,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University.
Despite that, he’s won the support of U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, former President Donald Trump and the Club for Growth. That conservative political action committee has been pumping millions of dollars into campaigns like that of U.S. Senate candidate Ted Budd, who is now leading his opponents by double digits in North Carolina.
And Hines has also won support from other candidates around the country, his campaign filings show.
Hines’ filing on Jan. 31 with the Federal Elections Commission reveals an oddity that neither Cooper, nor Brett Kappel, an attorney with Harmon Curran who focuses on campaign finance, lobbying and government ethics law cases, had seen before. It’s something those experts said could be a way to artificially inflate Hines’ campaign contributions.
Hines seemingly traded around $2,000 each with Georgia’s Patrick Witt, Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna and New Hampshire’s Karoline Leavitt.
- Take Luna’s $2,000 donation to Hines’ campaign on Dec. 31. Two days earlier, she received the same amount, $2,000, from him.
- Then there’s Luna’s $1,000 donation to Leavitt’s campaign on Dec. 10, that she then received back from Leavitt on Dec. 14.
- Or Witt’s $2,000 donation to Leavitt on Sept. 23, that Leavitt first donated to Witt on Sept. 21.
- Or Hines’s $2,000 donation to Witt on Dec. 29, that he received back on Dec. 31.
Some of the candidates made similar swaps with candidates in other states, including Tennessee’s Robby Starbuck, who received a $2,000 donation from Leavitt on Sept. 22, which he donated back on the same day.
Kappel said it’s not unusual to see $2,000 donations being made from one candidate to another. It’s the maximum a campaign is allowed to donate, and often the political parties will have programs to support a specific candidate, or candidates will give to incumbents facing tough races.
But Kappel said the quick turnaround is unusual.
“That’s kind of weird,” Kappel said. “Strategically, the reason you would do that is you might want to puff up your numbers.”
Kappel said if a candidate is struggling to raise money by a filing deadline, candidates might all float money to that candidate with the understanding that it will be given back shortly thereafter.
Kappel said there is nothing illegal about doing this but that it is a way to hoodwink the public about how much support a candidate actually has earned.
Hines’s campaign said in a statement he has support from fellow congressional candidates, without addressing the donation swaps.
“Bo Hines is extremely appreciative of the support he has received from fellow conservatives across the country,” said Rob Burgess, senior adviser to Hines. “He hopes to serve with these America First patriots in the 118th Congress.”
Cooper said candidates use their campaign finance reports as scorecards.
“It’s misleading,” Cooper said. “If candidates are using their campaign finance statements as ways to bolster the idea that they have support, then trading it around from politician to politician undermines that argument. So it’s legal, but it doesn’t do what they claim that their money does, which is to signify support and viability.”
Who is Bo Hines?
Hines is a political newcomer who has invited comparisons to Cawthorn, a controversial figure in the Republican Party who is, at 26, the youngest member of the 117th Congress. Hines is younger than Cawthorn by a few weeks.
Unlike Cawthorn, who is a college dropout, Hines played football at N.C. State before transferring to Yale University where an injury sidelined him and he focused on studying politics.
Hines had lived in Winston-Salem until recently, but WRAL first reported he has signed a lease on an apartment in the 13th district. The district includes all of Johnston County, the southern portion of Wake County and parts of Harnett and Wayne counties.
Hines is facing off against seven other candidates in the Republican primary and 12 others in all.
The majority of Hines’ campaign has been self-financed.
And of contributions from others, a little less than half comes from out-of-state donors, according to the campaign finance website Open Secrets.
It’s not unusual for candidates to loan themselves money. Among some of Hines’ Republican opponents, Kelly Daughtry has loaned her campaign more than $2.9 million. Kent Keirsey loaned himself $450,000.
Nor does Hines have the most out-of-state money. More than 83% of Keirsey’s contributions, $311,000, came from out of state donors, according to Open Secrets, compared to $196,000 or more than 47% of Hines’ contributions. Just more than 3% of Daughtry’s contributions came from out of state.
More financial oddities
At least two other parts of Hines’ campaign finance reports leave questions unanswered:
▪ Hines has loaned his campaign $775,026, the reports say.
Separately, a financial disclosure form he filed in June 2021 with the U.S. House clerk says Hines has a trust fund and withdrew up to $100,000 from it last year. The report said he did not withdraw any money from the trust fund the previous year, and says the value of the trust is unknown.
The same form says Hines makes around $24,000 annually working for his mother’s design firm. But it does not show a bank account, or other wealth that can be identified as the source of his loan to the campaign. Burgess declined to comment on Hines’ personal finances.
▪ Hines’ January campaign finance report lists at least seven people as offering the maximum amount of in-kind contributions for either field consulting or strategy consulting with jobs like barista, firefighter, auto detailer or police officer.
Several of these consultants lived out of state. All of them lived out of district. The firefighter, the law enforcement officer and a Realtor who gave in-kind donations were from or lived near Jeffersonville in Indiana. That’s where Burgess, who is also Hines’ campaign manager, once lived.
The FEC allows campaigns to take in-kind contributions, or non-monetary contributions, for goods and services offered for free or less than usual. In-kind contributions can also be recorded if someone pays for something on behalf of the campaign. The contribution does count as a gift of money and toward a $2,900 limit.
Hines’ campaign said Monday night that the baristas and the auto detailer worked on grassroots parts of their campaign while the firefighters and police, though out-of-state, helped the campaign understand issues important to first responders.
“We are so thankful for the numerous supporters throughout the Great State of North Carolina and across the country,” Burgess said. “Some individuals believe so much in Bo and his vision that they were willing to donate their time, talent, treasure, or knowledge to the campaign. Their assistance, insight, and generosity helped propel the campaign to the strong position it is in today.”
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This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 9:28 AM.