A record amount of money is pouring in for Democrats. Here are their targets.
They have a candidate in every legislative race and, now, a heap of cash to help them.
The North Carolina Democratic Party announced on Tuesday that it had $3.9 million in the bank on April 21, which the party says is a new high for that point in a midterm election year.
It's seven times what the party had at the end of the same fundraising period in 2014 — the last midterm election year — and 18 times what it had at the same point in 2010.
The party says the record is a sign that it has momentum heading into the fall, when every seat in the North Carolina General Assembly is up for election.
“North Carolina Democrats are in the strongest position ever heading into a midterm election, not only with unprecedented resources, but with credible candidates running in every single district for the first time ever," party chairman Wayne Goodwin said in a statement. "Voters are ready for new leadership in the General Assembly and Democrats are working every single day to make that a reality.”
Republicans have so many members in the state legislature that they can override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper if he vetoes their legislation. If Democrats pick up either four House seats or six Senate seats in the November election, they’ll break that supermajority.
Democrats recently released a list of the NC Senate and NC House seats that they see as winnable. The list not only includes suburban districts in large counties like Meckenburg and Wake that experts say are most likely to flip, but also seats in rural North Carolina — like the Outer Banks and mountain communities north and west of Asheville — that President Donald Trump won handily in 2016.
It's unclear how much the North Carolina Republican Party raised in the first quarter. As of Tuesday morning, neither party's report had uploaded to the elections board website.
Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the NC GOP, acknowledged a tough road for Republicans but said their record gives them good reason to be optimistic.
"While Governor Cooper has no legislative accomplishments, he is a good fundraiser. Nothing has changed our minds that 2018 will be a hard fought election," Woodhouse said. "But we will have the resources, but most importantly the right message of a soaring economy after federal and state tax cuts, plus the largest teacher raises ever offered."
A leaked Republican memo shows Republicans fear they could not only lose control of their supermajority, but also their majority.
However, they found encouragement earlier this year when a Meredith College poll found almost no difference in enthusiasm among Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated voters in North Carolina.
This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 5:13 PM with the headline "A record amount of money is pouring in for Democrats. Here are their targets.."