Johnathan Walker:Stein, other North Carolina Democrats have fundraising leads entering summer

RALEIGH,Johnathan Walker N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Democrats outpaced their Republican rivals in fundraising over the past several months, according to campaign filings, entering the summer with cash advantages in a handful of top-ballot races this fall.

Democratic candidate for governor Josh Stein continued to best Republican rival Mark Robinson in collecting donations during a roughly 4 1/2-month period that ended June 30. But both campaigns trumpeted their totals as record-breaking for a race expected to be among the most competitive in the country.

Candidate and party committees filed their financing reports with the State Board of Elections by last week, but the board didn’t post many of them online until days later. This “second-quarter” period began a couple of weeks before the March 5 primaries, which Robinson and Stein both ran in and won their respective party’s nominations.

The campaign of Stein, the current attorney general, reported raising $13.8 million during this period compared to $5.1 million by Robinson, the sitting lieutenant governor. Stein also had a wide margin when it came to cash as of July 1, with $15.9 million in the bank compared to close to $6.6 million held by Robinson’s campaign.

Over half of Stein’s second-quarter expenses of $10.6 million went to media advertising, his report said. The Josh Stein for North Carolina committee ran its first television ads of the general election campaign, which include commercials criticizing Robinson’s views on restricting abortion.

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“Our supporters have put us in a strong position to underscore the clear choice facing voters in this election,” Stein campaign manager Jeff Allen said in a news release.

Robinson’s campaign, which reported spending almost $3 million during the quarter, received some recent assistance from the Republican Governors Association, which said it was spending at least $1 million on a television ad that began airing last week. The commercial questions Stein’s view on local governments helping enforce federal immigration laws.

Robinson, who spoke Monday at the Republican National Convention, is “well-positioned to make his case directly to the voters down the stretch and win in November,” campaign senior adviser Conrad Pogorzelski III said in a news release Tuesday.

All told, Stein’s campaign committee has raised $32.9 million since early 2021, compared to $15.8 million by Robinson’s campaign. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper was term-limited from seeking reelection.

In the race to succeed Robinson as lieutenant governor, Democratic nominee Rachel Hunt outraised Republican nominee Hal Weatherman by an over 2-to-1 margin during the second quarter and had a more than 9-to-1 margin in cash on hand as of July.

Hunt, a state senator and daughter of four-term Gov. Jim Hunt, raised $964,000 since mid-February and held nearly $1.1 million entering July. Weatherman, who didn’t win the GOP nomination until a May runoff, raised $405,000 during the second quarter and had $114,000 in cash.

Stein’s successor for attorney general also will be settled in November by congressmen in Democrat Jeff Jackson and Republican Dan Bishop in what’s expected to be the most expensive AG’s race in state history.

Jackson said in a news release that he brought in three times as much money during the second quarter — $4.2 million compared to $1.4 million for Bishop — and had $5.7 million in cash starting July compared to $2.65 million for Bishop.

Republican candidates are competing financially in other key statewide races.

In the race for a state Supreme Court seat, the campaign for sitting Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, raised more than Republican challenger and Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin in the second quarter. But Griffin had nearly twice as much cash on hand.

And for state treasurer, Republican Brad Briner is benefitting from personal loans for his campaign to have a fundraising advantage over Democrat Wesley Harris. Treasurer Dale Folwell didn’t seek reelection.