A big fundraising quarter for Democrat who wants to take on Tillis in NC Senate race
Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham will report raising $1.6 million in the final three months of 2019, far outpacing what North Carolina’s last two Senate challengers raised in the same time period of their races.
Cunningham, a former state senator and Army veteran, has raised $3.1 million since entering the race in June. Cunningham is one of five Democrats vying to win the nomination for the seat held by incumbent Republican Thom Tillis.
In Tillis’ successful 2014 bid against incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan, he raised $714,000 in the final quarter of 2013. In Democrat Deborah Ross’ unsuccessful 2016 challenge against incumbent Republican Richard Burr, she raised about $586,000 in the final quarter of 2015.
Tillis now has the power of incumbency and a large war chest. And with control of the Senate at stake in 2020, outside groups are likely to dwarf both eventual nominees with spending in North Carolina.
The deadline to file fourth-quarter totals with the Federal Elections Commission in Jan. 31. Democrat Erica Smith, a state senator, said she would release her numbers next week. Tillis’ campaign said it is likely to have its numbers later in the month.
North Carolina’s primary is March 3, known as Super Tuesday for the many states holding presidential primaries that day. Cunningham, Smith and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller are the top Democratic contenders for Senate. Tillis has three Republican challengers, but his two most well-funded opponents dropped out before the filing deadline and others, including Rep. Mark Walker, passed on a challenge to the incumbent, who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
Cunningham is endorsed by national Democrats and has received money from more than 20 incumbent Democratic senators through their committees, including Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. The Cunningham campaign said he has more than 7,000 North Carolina donors and that 93% of his fourth-quarter donations were less than $100.
Cunningham said in a statement he’s “overwhelmed” and “grateful” for the financial support.
The Cunningham campaign received $2,800 maximum contributions from liberal donor George Soros, congressional candidate Kathy Manning and the president and CEO of Public Policy Polling, Dean Debnam and his wife, according to previous FEC filings. Cunningham said he would not accept corporate PAC money and is endorsed by End Citizens United.
The Cunningham campaign said it has $1.7 million cash on hand. Tillis had nearly $5 million cash on hand at the end of September, the last FEC filing period. The 2014 North Carolina Senate race was the most expensive in U.S. history at that point at more than $123 million, mostly by outside groups.
South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, who is running against incumbent Lindsey Graham, raised more than $3.5 million in the fourth quarter, The State newspaper reported.
Tillis’ numbers
Tillis’ numbers could show a boost from Trump’s help. The president sent 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 special guests.
Smith raised $133,000 through September. She said she has had more time to focus on fundraising since state lawmakers ended their session.
Despite the large fundraising gap, Smith has led in the limited polling of the race, including in a November Fox News poll.
Cunningham, Smith and Fuller are joined in the Democratic field by Atul Goel of Raleigh and Steve Swenson of Bunnlevel. Fuller reported raising $31,000 at the end of September. He told McClatchy in November he expects fundraising to improve as the campaign goes on.
In addition to Tillis, Republicans Paul Wright of Mount Olive, Larry Holmquist of Greensboro and Sharon Hudson of Huntersville will be on the ballot in March. None of them have filed with the FEC. Wright and Holmquist ran for the 2016 GOP nomination. Wright got 8.5% and Holmquist received 4.9% of the vote in the election won by Burr with 61.3%.
Burr then defeated Ross in the general election.
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This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 12:18 PM with the headline "A big fundraising quarter for Democrat who wants to take on Tillis in NC Senate race."
