How much money candidates raised — and spent — in some of Greater Charlotte’s contested races
Candidates across North Carolina have made their final ad purchases and donors have given their last contributions in races covering Mecklenburg County and the surrounding area — some of which are expected to be close.
Third-quarter reports were due to the North Carolina Board of Elections on Oct. 27, and are the last reports due before Election Day. Fourth-quarter reports are not due until Jan. 12, well past Election Day. Congressional candidates’ most recent filing deadline was Oct. 22, with the post-general election deadline not until Dec. 3.
Here’s a closer look at the finances and backers of some candidates in races The Election Hub has covered.
General Assembly races
In south Charlotte, Republican Stacie McGinn is hoping to unseat Woodson Bradley — the Democratic incumbent she lost to in 2024 by a razor-thin margin — for the District 42 seat in the state Senate.
According to her third-quarter reports, McGinn, an attorney, has received $747,661 and spent $678,809. One of her largest donors was Dave Craven for NC ($5,000); she’s also received multiple contributions from attorneys. And the NC Senate Majority Fund contributed $280,721 in in-kind services to her campaign for “direct mail,” “direct mail design” and research.
But no one has been a bigger contributor to her campaign than McGinn herself — she’s made several large contributions to her own campaign, in the forms of donations and forgiven loans.
Bradley’s third-quarter reports are not publicly available on the state Board of Elections’ website yet. But her campaign has disclosed two large donations this month, including $29,115 from the North Carolina Democratic Party reported on Oct. 22. Her second-quarter reports indicated that she had received $441,657 by that time and spent $217,427.
Bradley’s financial reports also show that her campaign missed a reporting deadline during the spring of 2025. That fall, the Board of Elections granted her team’s request to waive the penalty fee.
McGinn has faced backlash from Democrats for funding her campaign with her “personal fortune,” which they believe gives her an unfair advantage over Bradley. McGinn dismissed the concerns and told The Election Hub she thinks Bradley “has less of her own money to spend on her campaign because of the choices she made, in my opinion.”
Beth Helfrich and John Rhodes are gunning for the North Carolina House of Representatives District 98 seat.
In the state House’s District 98, which covers Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville, Democratic incumbent Beth Helfrich is trying to fend off John Rhodes, an ultra-conservative Republican.
Helfrich is a freshman legislator; Rhodes held the District 98 seat in the early 2000s and wants it back. The population in District 98 tends to be older, wealthier and more right-leaning than Charlotte, and the race could be close.
During Helfrich’s reelection bid, she’s spent $311,976 so far and received $377,710, leaving her with a comfortable surplus. In February, her campaign reported a $6,800 donation from EMILY’s List (a PAC that supports Democratic women candidates) and this month, a $2,500 contribution from Jordan Clark, a real estate investor from Atlanta who appears to have a degree from Davidson College, Helfrich’s alma mater. She's also received $6,000 total from Work for Democracy PAC, a North Carolina PAC that supports progressive candidates, and $1,000 from Climate Cabinet PAC.
Rhodes’ campaign is working with much less cash; he has received $18,134 this election and spent $13,369. The vast majority has been individual contributions, with only $100 from political party committees (the North Mecklenburg Republican Club). He’s made several large purchases from Alphagraphics in Cornelius for signs and other campaign materials, and spent over $4,000 to take out ads in Cornelius Today and Lake Norman Publications.
Ken McCool and Tricia Cotham are in what's expected to be a close race for the N.C. House of Representatives District 105 seat.
In the race for the seat representing District 105 — which covers Mint Hill and parts of Matthews and south Charlotte — Democrat Ken McCool has out-fundraised and outspent his opponent, incumbent Republican Tricia Cotham, by nearly double. The race is expected to be a tight one.
McCool’s final report, which includes financials up to Oct. 17, says he has received $684,602 total for this election. The vast majority was in the third quarter, $549,360. His campaign has spent $603,328 total on the election, and $544,308 during the third quarter.
Most of the contributions he received were smaller individual donations. But he also received some bigger donations from left-leaning political organizations like NC Sierra Club PAC, Planned Parenthood, Work for Democracy PAC and the Progressive Turnout Project.
Cotham, on the other hand, has received $319,715 during her reelection bid, and spent $309,189.
Some of her largest donors included the Committee to Elect Republican Women ($6,800); her mother, Pat Cotham ($6,800); Duke Energy PAC ($4,000) and Ed Driggs for City Council (who has donated $8,002 to her during her reelection bid). She also received large donations from Republican Party organizations, like the Committee to Elect Republican Women ($6,800) and the North Carolina House Republican Campaign Committee (which has donated $67,883 to her in total).
U.S. House of Representatives
LaKesha Womack and Tim Moore are battling for the U.S. House of Representatives seat that represents several counties in western North Carolina and parts of Greater Charlotte.
In the race for North Carolina’s 14th congressional district, LaKesha Womack is challenging incumbent Republican Tim Moore.
As of reports due Oct. 14, Tim Moore has received $2,091,454 and spent $1,921,880, dwarfing the amount his opponent has collected and spent.
Womack has received $59,183 and spent most of it, $55,625. Her receipts consist of small individual contributions, with one $1,000 donation from Capitol Heel PAC and a few donations from the Democratic parties in District 14. She’s also received three donations of $250 each from Harold Love Jr., the Tennessee legislator whose campaign she managed.
Moore’s receipts include large donations from conservative-aligned organizations and PACs, like the National Rifle Association, and from large corporations. He’s also received many donations from insurance companies like BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, and from the banking and utility industries. One of his largest donors is Duke Energy Corporation Employee PAC, which contributed $5,000 in June ahead of the Republican primary. He also received $5,000 from AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) ahead of the primary.
Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners
Only one race for Board of Commissioners is contested: the race for the District 2 seat, between Monifa “Mo” Drayton, the Democratic candidate, and Republican Angela White Edwards, in fundraising and spending.
According to a disclosure report filed Oct. 26, Drayton has received $35,979 this election cycle — most of it was individual contributions, and she also received $1,400 from Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County. She spent $32,353.
In December 2025, Edwards filed a certification of threshold, declaring she would raise or spend less than $1,000 in the current election cycle. No other financial reports for her campaign are available.
Election Day is tomorrow, Nov. 3.
Additional reading from The Election Hub on some of the races mentioned in this story:
Rachel Black is a reporter and writer for The Election Hub. Reach her at rachel@theelectionhub.org.
For information on this and other races on the ballot in Mecklenburg, Gaston and Cabarrus counties and beyond, check out The Election Hub. It is a project of the Civic Knowledge Initiative, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Charlotte that makes it easy for every citizen to find, understand and act on reliable information about their local government and elected officials.
In the Rhodes vs Helfinch (and other races) you describe the population of the district as “wealthy and far right” leaning why do you not therefore describe Helfinch as an ultra liberal as her voting record would show us. If it is so “far right* how did she get elected. You fail to use personally determined extreme titles for Democrat candidates. You could easily describe Charlotte as Far Left and extreme liberal but you never use such descriptions. This is either ignorant reporting or reporting with an agenda or in my opinion BOTH.