The Dive: Bucks and Ballots

Ready or not, election season is upon us. Early voting for the 2024 primary–sorry–starts in just 42 days. 

As the ads ramp up and mudslinging begins, we looked back at historical campaign finance contributions for six state-level incumbents who represent most of the Cape Fear region. 

Challengers who filed last month are just now forming their finance committees, so there’s no data to crunch for them yet. For this analysis, we parsed all available election donation records for incumbents. On name recognition alone, these sitting officials almost certainly have an advantage heading into the primary.

The largest combined contributions tended to come from party organizations or the candidates themselves, though influential families and political action committees (PACs) kicked in across sectors like real estate, health care, construction, and energy.

State Sen. Michael Lee, the candidate in what is arguably the area’s most competitive seat, has seen the highest total contributions at $5.9 million. Lee has the longest contribution record of the bunch, as he first ran unsuccessfully in 2008. State Rep. Charlie Miller, who has served two terms in a comparatively more Republican-leaning district, has raised the least at $416,000. 

Here’s how much they’ve raised over the years, and from where.

Note: The Assembly combined relatives and committees when applicable. Contributions include loans.

–Johanna F. Still

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Sen. Michael Lee (R) – since 2007
District 7–New Hanover

1. NC Senate Majority Fund: $1.9 million
2. Florence Lee (his mother): $803,000
3. NC Republican Party: $355,000
4. Himself: $138,000
5. Sosne family (developer): $112,000

All-time total: $5.9 million

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Sen. Bill Rabon (R) – since 2010
District 8–Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover

1. Himself: $1.7 million
2. NC Republican Executive Committee: $202,000
3. NC Republican Senate Caucus: $79,000
4. Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association PAC: $52,000
5. Duke Energy Corp. PAC: $51,000

All-time total: $5.5 million

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Rep. Deb Butler (D) – since 2017
District 18–New Hanover

1. Herself: $502,000
2. NC House Democratic Caucus: $49,000
3. Nancy O’Donohue (retired nurse): $21,000
4. Linda Look (retired business owner): $19,000
5. Robert Page (dinnerware retailer): $12,000

All-time total: $1.2 million

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Rep. Ted Davis Jr. (R) – since 2012
District 20–New Hanover

1. NC Republican Party: $237,000
2. NC House Republican Campaign Committee: $223,000
3. Himself: $54,000
4. NC Realtors PAC: $32,000
5. Michael McCarley (marine terminal founder): $30,000

All-time total: $1.2 million 

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Rep. Frank Iler (R) – since 2009
District 17–Brunswick

1. Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association PAC: $27,5f00
2. NC Realtors PAC: $27,000
3. Young family (developers): $20,000
4. Debbie Smith (Ocean Isle Beach mayor): $16,000
5. Duke Energy Corp. PAC: $16,000

All-time total: $452,000

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Rep. Charlie Miller (R) – since 2019
District 19–Brunswick, New Hanover

1. Himself: $92,000
2. NC Republican Party: $48,000
3. NC House Republican Campaign Committee: $12,000
4. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: $11,000
5. Boggs family (operated a disgraced paving company): $11,000

All-time total: $416,000

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Well, That Escalated Quickly

On Saturday afternoon, my phone started steadily vibrating, and it kept buzzing all the way through Sunday night–a string of messages and social media tags, all calling my attention to a Facebook post from a woman named Madonna Nash. 

The post detailed an unpleasant experience–to put it mildly–that her daughter, Asia, had several weeks ago while performing at Edward Teach, a brewery in downtown Wilmington. Nash alleged that the brewery’s owner, Gary Sholar, had physically and verbally assaulted her 20-year-old daughter, screaming and at one point throwing chairs. Her post painted a truly disturbing picture of Sholar as drunk, abusive, and homophobic. Commenters chimed in, many sharing their own unsavory experiences with Sholar.

A lot of people seemed to want news coverage, in the hope it would inspire a community boycott of the brewery or some other form of accountability for Sholar’s alleged actions.

I didn’t run a story that day, for a lot of reasons, some of which I posted online to let people know I wasn’t just ignoring them. For one, though I spoke to Nash, I hadn’t talked to Asia, any witnesses, or Sholar. 

I certainly understand why someone might need time to process a traumatic experience before going to the police. And I also understand the points a lot people made online about the myriad horror stories of women that the criminal justice system has ignored or abused. My faith in law enforcement is far from unconditional. But if it were someone I knew, like a friend or my sister, I would encourage them to go to the cops.

While I was making a case for taking a beat and doing my due diligence, my ethical dithering, as one friend called it, became a moot point. Nash’s post went viral. With nearly 1,000 shares and hundreds of comments as of yesterday, the post reached deep into the local music and service industry scene.

A host of local restaurants, bars, and taprooms responded by dropping Edward Teach beer. Some held figurative fire sales, some just took it off the tap. Another local brewery that carries only its own beer but still wanted to weigh in posted bluntly: “Fuck this place.”

(Sholar also owns the brewery’s sister companies, third-party logistics firm Summit Logistics and equipment manufacturer Summit Industrial, but it’s not yet clear whether the boycott extends to those.)

The local businesses’ response freed WECT from having to dig into the murky water of reporting on the original incident and allowed them to instead just run an article on the boycott. And it made a splash–but probably not as big as Nash’s original post.

People often turn to the news to hold people accountable. But in this case, it’s hard to imagine even the most fleet-footed digital reporter moving as swiftly, and striking as decisively, as online outrage.

Sholar never responded to requests for comment, but on Wednesday evening, four days after Nash’s post, Edward Teach put out a statement on social media, saying the brewery does not “tolerate bad behavor in our establishment from our patrons or our staff.” It didn’t mention Sholar or the specific allegations.

“As we are sure you can appreciate, not everything you read online is accurate. Please know that Edward Teach Brewery takes negative feedback seriously,” the brewery wrote. “Rest assured that we are doing all we can to help those involved in the brief and unfortunately, misconstrued incident two months ago to move forward respectfully and harmoniously.”

Commenting was turned off on the post.

-Benjamin Schachtman

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Around the Region

Mum on Mosely: The New Hanover County school system shocked parents when it decided to close a specialty career readiness academy after this school year, Port City Daily reports. About half of the school’s 50 students are Hispanic or Latino. 

Full Shelters: The unhoused in our region face full shelters and sporadic resources, WHQR reports after a recent ride-along with the city police.

Trees vs. Tides: Discarded Christmas trees are making their way to public beaches to support dune systems and fight erosion, Coastal Review reports. But don’t just dump yours on the shore; donate via an organized, permitted local program.

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Around the State

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