After Berger's loss, GOP group funded by NC business leaders helped pay legal fees
As North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger faced the prospect of losing his primary election in March and ending his 15-year reign as one of the most powerful people in state politics, business leaders gave tens of thousands of dollars to a Republican fund that helped him pay his lawyers after he unsuccessfully contested the results.
New campaign finance reports released Friday show that Berger’s legal expense fund accepted a $100,000 contribution in April from the Senate Majority Building Fund — a type of account set up by political parties that can accept unlimited donations from corporations and other entities.
The building fund reported receiving $70,000 in donations from influential business leaders, including one whose health center got nearly $18 million in the state budget. Most of the donations came in around the time Berger conceded the race in late March.
Until recently, building funds were prohibited from using money for anything other than expenses related to their party headquarters building. But in 2024, Republican lawmakers slipped a provision into Senate Bill 382, a massive power-shift bill, that allowed building funds to be used to pay for legal expenses.
A spokesperson for Berger was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
Among those who donated to the building fund was Michael Estramonte, a healthcare executive in Charlotte. He and a board member of his family foundation, Alana Craycraft, each donated $5,000.
In the state’s recently passed budget, a pediatric behavioral health care center in Charlotte, the Katie Blessing Foundation, received one of the largest single grants to a nonprofit: $17.7 million.
That center is managed by a healthcare company called Starmount, of which Estramonte serves as the founder and president.
Last year, Estramonte hosted a fundraiser for House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, a Republican, The News & Observer previously reported.
The N&O was not immediately able to reach Estramonte on Friday.
The building fund also received $10,000 from Jimmy Clark, a member of the UNC System Board of Governors, and $10,000 from Marty Kotis, a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. Clark is the owner of Guy M. Turner, “the largest privately-owned crane, rigging, and heavy haul/oversized trucking company in North America,” according to his Board of Governors biography page. And Kotis is the CEO and owner of a Greensboro-based hospitality development company.
John Kane, the prominent Raleigh real estate developer, donated another $10,000.
The building fund’s donation was used to pay over $75,000 in legal fees, according to Berger’s most recent finance report.
His effort to contest his narrow loss to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page lasted several weeks, but two recounts confirmed the result and Berger’s attempt to protest certain ballots in the race did not yield results.
As for Page, he reported receiving only two contributions to his legal fund this quarter: $5,000 from Michael Brown, a rheumatologist in Winston-Salem, and $2,000 from Roger Perry, founder of a real estate company in Chapel Hill.
Since establishing his legal fund in March, Page brought in a total of $116,000 and spent slightly over $100,000 on legal fees.
In the first quarter of the year, Page reported a $25,000 donation to from Robert Luddy, founder of a Triangle commercial HVAC company, and another $25,000 from Sheila Mikhail, founder and CEO of a gene therapy company in Research Triangle Park.
Berger plans to remain in his role as Senate leader until his term ends at the beginning of 2027. Several Senate Republicans have thrown their names in the hat to replace him, but no successor has yet been named.
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 2:01 PM with the headline "After Berger's loss, GOP group funded by NC business leaders helped pay legal fees."
