Stein, other North Carolina Democrats have fundraising leads entering summer

RALEIGH, 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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