Charlotte-area donors helping NC Republicans over Democrat in Senate race
A higher number of Mecklenburg County residents so far have made political donations to Republicans running for U.S. Senate than the likely Democratic nominee in 2022, a review of the latest campaign finance reports show.
From Charlotte, nearly five times as many donations reported by the Federal Election Commission have gone to former Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign than to Cheri Beasley’s, the Democrat and former Supreme Court chief justice.
The FEC gives data on individual contributions if they exceed $200 or if the donor gives an aggregate of more than $200 per election cycle.
Notably, while Beasley has not pulled in as many donations from the Charlotte area — North Carolina’s bluest region — the former state Supreme Court justice has collected almost three quarters of her $200-or-more donors from out of state. Those out-of-state political gifts, to date, have helped make her the best-financed candidate in the race.
In competing for Charlotte-area donations, Beasley was, until recently, up against Mecklenburg state Sen. Jeff Jackson as a primary opponent.
On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker has the highest number of out-of-state contributions.
A review of fundraising receipts from North Carolina’s U.S. Senate candidates shows that McCrory has leaned strongly on Mecklenburg County, where he served as Charlotte’s mayor. Beasley has pulled most of her in-state money from the Triangle.
U.S. Rep. Ted Budd has leaned less heavily on any particular area. About 12% of his reported in-state contributions came from Forsyth, his home county. Slightly less than half of his donors live in North Carolina.
The Observer’s geographical review of fundraising data shows which parts of the state are contributing to which Senate candidates. It did not take into account the amount of money each donation was worth — just where the donation came from.
Key takeaways
Among the key takeaways were that Beasley, the likely Democratic nominee, appears to have relied more heavily on out-of-state donors than her Republican counterparts.
Beasley has raised the most of any candidate, with $2.78 million. About 5.7% of her FEC-reported in-state donations have come from Mecklenburg County; 71% of her total donations came from outside North Carolina.
McCrory, on the other hand, has found most of his donations from within North Carolina — and a higher percentage than any other top fundraiser. More than 60% of his contributions came from North Carolina. About 46% of Budd’s contributions came from North Carolina.
Of the $200-or-higher donors, McCrory has drawn donations from more counties than any other candidate. Contributions have come to McCrory from 72 counties. Budd drew from the next-most, at 64 counties.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, who has lagged in fundraising behind Beasley, McCrory and Budd, leaned the most heavily on a single county of all the candidates. About half of his in-state donations came from his home county of Guilford.
McCrory has raised about $2.27 million, Budd has raised $1.8 million and Walker has raised $533,000. Budd also loaned $275,000 to his own campaign, bringing his total to $2.1 million.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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