One CMS candidate’s campaign raised a lot more than all others, reports show
One north Mecklenburg school board candidate raised in about a month what some school board candidate campaigns have generated over the entire election, according to campaign finance reports due this week.
School board candidates often draw only a few thousand dollars in donations — small sums when compared with more high-profile, partisan contests. CMS Board of Education District 1 candidate Charlitta Hatch was the exception to that, raising over $56,000, including nearly $11,500 from Sept. 24 to Oct. 20. The total was the sum of over 400 individual donations.
While money doesn’t necessarily mean a candidate will win, it’s the most raised by any candidate in any CMS school board race this year by a long shot.
The incumbent in the District 1 race, Melissa Easley, raised around $2,600 total, according to her pre-election campaign finance report.
While school board races are nonpartisan affairs, Mecklenburg County Democrats and Republicans made endorsements in this year’s races. Hatch got the Democratic endorsement, and Easley said she believes it was due to her high fundraising totals.
“The Democratic Party leadership chose not to support me in this race,” Easley said in a Facebook post Sept. 23. “Not because I am under-qualified or because I’ve done anything wrong, but because I won’t play a game, I didn’t raise the most money, and I refuse to stay quiet when I know something is wrong.”
Hatch, who works as the chief data and analytics officer for the city of Charlotte, said she believes her fundraising is a sign of her impact in the community.
“Really, I think it’s a testament to who I am in the community,” Hatch told WFAE in October before the latest reports were due. “Even if I’m new to some of you, I’m not new to a lot of other folks.”
The third challenger in the race is Bill Fountain, who got the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Republican Party. He’s run before. But this time, he put about $20,000 of his own money into his campaign, which was the lion’s share of the $23,000 he raised.
District 1 is mostly north of Interstate 485 and includes some parts of north Charlotte.
Besides Hatch and Fountain, the biggest fundraiser was Anna London, who is running for the District 6 seat after incumbent Summer Nunn announced she would not be seeking reelection. London’s campaign generated nearly $17,000, about $10,000 of which was her own money.
District 6 snakes along Mecklenburg County’s southern border from the Steele Creek area to the edge of Matthews.
Hatch and London both drew some scrutiny after Raki McGregor, a Charlotte business leader and former advisor to Superintendent Crystal Hill, endorsed their campaigns. The board previously approved a $500,000 contract for his wife’s education consulting firm, which both Easley and Nunn voted against. However, McGregor has said board members’ decisions on the contract did not influence his decision about which candidates to endorse.
Here are the fundraising numbers for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education candidates as of Oct. 20. Candidates are not required to submit a campaign finance reports if they don’t raise or spend more than $1,000.
District 1: North Mecklenburg County, including Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson
Melissa Easley (incumbent)
- Total raised: $2,610.10
- Total spent: $1,197.24
- Cash on hand at end of period: $1,412.77
- Notable donors: Mecklenburg County Commissioner Laura Meier ($250), Huntersville Town Board of Commissioners Candidate Scott Coronet ($100)
Bill Fountain
- Total raised: $23,083.37
- Total spent: $7,157.60
- Cash on hand at end of period: $16,425.77
- Notable donors: Himself (around $20,000), Mecklenburg County Republican Executive Committee ($900), Republican Women of Greater Charlotte ($500)
Charlitta Hatch
- Total raised: $56,324.90
- Total spent: $43,526.20
- Cash on hand at end of period: $12,798.70
- Notable donors: CMS Board Vice Chair Gregory “Dee” Rankin ($100), Executive Director of The Belk Foundation Jevelyn Bonner-Reed ($100), President of The Bissell Ballantyne Legacy Foundation Whitney Feld ($100), Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County ($450)
District 2: Uptown, west Charlotte and western Mecklenburg County
Shamaiye Haynes
- Total raised: $8,385.00
- Total spent: $6,795.82
- Cash on hand at end of period: $3,450.09
- Notable donors: Executive Director of Historic West End Partners Jtanya Adams ($100), Charlotte business leader and former CMS consultant Raki McGregor ($500), Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County ($300)
Juanrique Hall
Campaign finance reports aren’t available for Hall through the Mecklenburg County or State Board of Elections. He told The Charlotte Observer Friday he was working on sending a copy of the reports.
District 4: East Charlotte
Stephanie Sneed (incumbent)
Sneed’s most recent campaign finance report available online is from July. She told The Charlotte Observer there was an error in the pre-election report due Oct. 27, and it had to be resubmitted. The county had not made it available online at the time of publication.
Jillian King
- Total raised: $1,865.80
- Total spent: $1,590.68
- Cash on hand at end of period: $264.32
Robert L. Edwards
- Total raised: $812.71
- Total spent: $812.71
- Cash on hand at end of period: $0
- Records indicate Edwards’ campaign has been entirely self-financed
District 5: south Charlotte, from the Eastover neighborhood, through Myers Park, down to NC 51
Lisa Cline (incumbent)
- Total raised: $12,581.00
- Total spent: $2,627.14
- Cash on hand at end of period: $9,953.86
- Notable donors: Republican Women of Greater Charlotte ($1,000), Meck GOP ($900)
Cynthia Stone
- Total raised: $15,340.00
- Total spent: $12,641.47
- Cash on hand at end of period: $2,698.53
- Notable donors: Mecklenburg County Commissioner Laura Meier ($500)
District 6: southernmost part Mecklenburg County, including Steele Creek, Ballantyne, Pineville and the Providence area
Anna London
- Total raised: $16,905.00
- Total spent: $17,045.35
- Cash on hand at end of period: $0
- Notable donors: Herself (around $10,000), Former Charlotte City Council member Larken Egleston ($100), Mecklenburg County Commissioner Laura Meier ($150), Charlotte business leader and former CMS consultant Raki McGregor ($500), Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County ($150)
Toni Emehel
Campaign finance reports aren’t available for for Emehel through the Mecklenburg County or State Board of Elections. She has not yet responded to multiple messages from the Observer on the matter.
Justin Shealy
- Total raised: $3,714.20
- Total spent: $2,745.21
- Cash on hand at end of period: $968.99
- Notable donors: Republican Women of Greater Charlotte ($500), Mecklenburg County Republican Party ($900)
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
