The two expected front-runners in North Carolina’s 2024 governor’s race raised big money over the last half of 2021 despite the long lead time ahead of the election.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson raised more than $1.5 million over the six-month period, then shuffled his staff to more of a campaign footing. Robinson, a Republican in his first elected office, also spent heavily, building up a fundraising infrastructure to pull in small-dollar donations from across the country.
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He did well with large donors, too. Nearly 50 people gave his campaign the state maximum of $5,600.
"That is the beginning of a runaway freight train,” said Republican political consultant Jim Blaine, who’s not part of the Robinson campaign. “He is going to raise more money than any Republican state official has ever raised."
Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic Party’s heir apparent to the governor’s mansion with current Gov. Roy Cooper term-limited, raised nearly as much: $1.45 million. Stein has more money on hand than Robinson, ending the year with just over $2 million in the bank compared to Robinson’s $1.26 million.
Both campaigns blew away fundraising totals from this point in the cycle for the past several North Carolina gubernatorial campaigns. They beat the $1 million Cooper raised as a sitting governor over the second half of 2017 by roughly half a million dollars, and they essentially quadrupled what then Lt. Gov. Dan Forest raised back then.
“The fundraising totals are impressive on both sides given where we are,” said David McLennan, a political scientist who runs the Meredith Poll at Meredith College. “But, as we know, it’s going to be an expensive race, and they’re developing infrastructure.”
Robinson spent heavily on lists, building a Rolodex of donors he can hit up for money. He was both the top fundraiser and the top spender in state-level politics, based on a WRAL analysis of campaign finances for the last six months of 2021. The spending was enough to put two key consultancies, Robinson campaign strategist Conrad Pogorzelski’s Conservative Connections and fundraiser Heather Whillier’s The Whillier Group, into the top 10 of campaign vendors for state-level races.
Stein added a national online fundraising group to his efforts over the period: Authentic Campaigns, which worked for the Biden-Harris presidential ticket in 2020 as well as Democratic U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross’ campaign here in North Carolina and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Cal Cunningham.
This is all based on filings that were due to the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Jan. 28, and although they tell a detailed story, there’s a limit. They don’t track congressional or U.S. Senate campaigns, which are cataloged separately by the Federal Elections Commission. They also don’t fully account for dark-money spending on ads that don’t directly back or attack a candidate.
That sort of spending will become much more common as the election cycle heats up this year with the 2022 congressional and legislative elections and again ahead of the 2024 governor’s race.
Pogorzelski was Robinson’s chief of staff at the lieutenant governor’s office until last month, but he moved back to full-time political consulting. Brian LiVecchi, general counsel in the lieutenant governor’s office, took over as chief of staff.
Pogorzelski said the move was planned from the beginning of Robinson’s term. The Robinson campaign paid Pogorzelski’s consulting firm throughout Pogorzelski’s time as chief of staff, including nearly $184,000 over the last six months of 2021.
Pogorzelski said to expect a national fundraising operation capitalizing on Robinson’s high profile on the right.
“We’re not at full steam yet,” Pogorzelski said. “I really expect there to be just an explosion of small dollars over the coming year. … He has a nationwide audience and we’re able to raise money across the country. ... It’s a pretty unique situation because of Mark being Mark.”
Morgan Jackson, a key campaign consultant for both Stein and Cooper, said “no amount of money will be able to hide Robinson’s divisive agenda and hateful ideas.” Robinson has been unapologetic about repeated homophobic comments and other derogatory remarks. Among other things, he refers to Democrats as “our enemies.”
Cooper continued to raise money in the second half of last year, bringing in more than $1 million and spending about $309,000 despite not having a next race on the horizon. Jackson said Cooper is focused on the 2022 legislative races and will spend his money to help Democrats get elected to the General Assembly.
Correction: This post initially described Pogorzelski as Robinson's campaign manager. He is a campaign strategist and consultant.