Everything You Need to Know About the Money Race for Raleigh City Council

Sometimes numbers tell the story. But sometimes, that story’s not the whole story. 

On July 9, Raleigh mayoral candidate Caroline Sullivan announced that she’d raised more than $215,000 in the fundraising period that ended June 30, an insane haul indicative of a groundswell of support. The actual report, however, which we finally saw last week, told a more complicated tale. Turns out, about $35,000 of that sum came from a loan Sullivan made to herself. More important, Sullivan raised lots of money from out of state—from big Democratic players connected to her lobbyist husband. 

We don’t mention that to pick on Sullivan, but to highlight that the first batch of fundraising reports deserve closer scrutiny than they’re often given: who is supporting whom, which incumbents are struggling, which challengers are raking in big bucks.

Strong fundraising doesn’t always mean a strong campaign, of course, and a lot will change over the next two months. But if you want a window into how the fight for Raleigh’s future is shaping up behind the scenes—the hidden primary—you’ve come to the right place. 

The Fine Print: The amount raised totals aggregated (meaning less than $50) and individual contributions for this election cycle; we subtracted loans from candidates, interest, reimbursements, and the like. We calculated the average donation by dividing the amount raised by the number of donors. Finance records do not list the names or addresses of aggregated donors, so we did not include them in our calculation of donors from Raleigh. Maxed-out donors are those who have given $5,400. Notable donors are prominent business people, philanthropists, politicians, and others we thought worthy of mention. “Inc.” denotes an incumbent.

---

MAYOR

Mary-Ann Baldwin

About: 62, VP of marketing for Holt Brothers Inc., Raleigh City Council member 2007–17.

Raised: $124,905  |  Donors: 225 

Average donation: $553

Percentage of donors from Raleigh: 87

Cash on hand: $122,213 

Maxed-out donors: None

Notable donors: Capitol Broadcasting CEO James Goodmon ($1,000); developer John Kane ($2,500); Holt Brothers VP Torry Holt ($2,500); realtor Kimberlie Meeker, daughter-in-law of former mayor Charles Meeker ($500).

Notes: Baldwin draws much of her support from the downtown business world and the development sector. 

Zainab Baloch

About: 28, numbers operation specialist at Even, 2017 candidate for Raleigh City Council.

Raised: $13,000  |  Donors: 38

Average donation: $342

Percentage of donors from Raleigh: 38

Cash on hand: $2,329 

Maxed-out donors: None

Notes: Baloch’s two largest contributions are both in-kind—$4,200 for campaign design work and $5,100 for campaign consulting. 

Charles Francis

About: 56, attorney and founder of North State Bank, 2017 candidate for Raleigh mayor.

Raised: $155,387  |  Donors: 277

Average donation: $561

Percentage of donors from Raleigh: 74

Cash on hand: $100,645

Maxed-out donors: Attorney George B. Autry Jr.

Notable donors: Former city manager Russell Allen ($500); Workplace Solutions CEO Dean Debnam ($5,200) and his wife, Debnam Property Management manager Sesha Debnam ($5,200); Torry Holt ($2,500); John Kane ($2,500); Indiana Pacers head coach Nathaniel McMillan $5,200); retired News & Observer publisher Orage Quarles III ($250).

Notes: Francis raised about $425,000 in his bid to oust Nancy McFarlane in 2017, but that money never translated into a cogent message or enough support to win. 

George Knott

About: 42, musician.

Knott has indicated to the Wake County Board of Elections that he does not intend to raise or spend more than $1,000. 

Caroline Sullivan

About: 53, senior adviser for the N.C. Business Committee for Education, Wake County commissioner 2014–16.

Raised: $179,547  |  Donors: 450

Average donation: $399

Percentage of donors from Raleigh: 49

Cash on hand: $180,504

Maxed-out donors: Fairco Inc. president Salomon Cohen; Health Decision CRO board member Stephen Decherney; developer Lattie Floyd Jr.; former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe; Schnider Group executive administrator Lois Schnider and CEO Stuart Schnider.

Notable donors: Wake Stone executives Samuel and Theodore Bratton ($500 each); former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles ($500); former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt ($500); James Goodmon ($1,000); state representative Verla Insko ($250); John Kane ($2,500); Florida attorney John Morgan ($1,000).

Notes: Caroline Sullivan has raised a lot of money—and a lot of it from out of state, drawing on the strength of her lobbyist-husband’s connections. Richard Sullivan was one of Hillary Clinton’s top bundlers in the 2016 election. 

Justin Sutton

About: 30, attorney.

Sutton filed to run for mayor in July, after the June 30 cutoff for campaign finance filings. 

---

CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE

James Bledsoe

About: 33, IT technician for N.C. Department of Public Safety.

Bledsoe’s second-quarter campaign finance filings were not available as of July 30.

Jonathan Melton

About: 33, attorney.

Raised: $55,806  |  Donors: 236

Average donation: $236 

Cash on hand: $31,474

Maxed-out donors: Contractor John Cooper; attorney Stephanie Jenkins. 

Notable donors: Samuel and Theodore Bratton ($500 each); attorney and former planning commissioner Eric Braun ($750); Wake County Commissioner Sig Hutchinson ($250); John Kane ($1,000); former mayor Charles Meeker ($250); Brewery Bhavana co-owners Vansana and Vanvisa Nolintha (in-kind, $3,500 and $4,500, respectively); Centro owner Angela Salamanca (in-kind, $4,971). 

Portia Rochelle

About: 66, retired state employee. 

Raised: $378  |  Donors: 1 (self)

Average donation: $378 

Cash on hand: $264

Carlie Allison Spencer

About: 24, law student.

Spencer announced her campaign in July. 

Russ Stephenson (inc.)

About: 63, architect, Raleigh City Council member 2005–present. 

Raised: $50,291  |  Donors: 95

Average donation: $529 

Cash on hand: $41,217

Maxed-out donors: Dean and Sesha Debnam; James Goodmon.

Notable donors: Dominion Realty CEO Alexander Andrews ($3,500); state representative Cynthia Ball ($500); former state treasurer Janet Cowell ($250); Wake County school board member Christine Kushner ($250); Umstead Coalition chairwoman Jean Spooner ($100); former mayor and developer Smedes York ($500). 

Nicole Stewart (inc.)

About: 37, development director for the N.C. Conservation Network, Raleigh City Council member 2017–present. 

Raised: $66,295  |  Donors: 327

Average donation: $203 

Cash on hand: $53,912

Maxed-out donors: James Goodmon.

Notable donors: State representatives Sydney Batch ($100), Chaz Beasley ($100), Grier Martin ($250), and state senator Terry Van Duyn ($250); Eric Braun ($2,250); Sig Hutchinson ($250); Mayor Nancy McFarlane ($3,500); Charles Meeker ($2,000); former U.S. Senate candidate Deborah K. Ross ($250); Citrix executive Nate Spilker ($1,000); Caroline Sullivan ($100).

Notes: Raleigh’s council has two at-large seats, so the top-two vote-getters will prevail. If two candidates do not reach 25 percent of the vote in October, the third-place candidate may call for a runoff. 

---

CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT A

Joshua Bradley

About: 45, hotel accountant.

Bradley has indicated to the Wake County Board of Elections that he does not intend to raise or spend more than $1,000. 

Patrick Buffkin

About: 36, staff attorney with the N.C. Utilities Commission, member of the Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenways Advisory Board.

Raised: $22,413  |  Donors: 148

Average donation: $151 

Cash on hand: $17,719

Maxed-out donors: None.

Notable donors: Eric Braun ($1,750); Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria ($100); Charles Meeker ($100); David Meeker ($100).

Sam Hershey

About: 42, founder of Evim Solutions LLC.

Raised: $21,563  |  Donors: 24

Average donation: $898  |  Cash on hand: $18,039

Maxed-out donors: Birgit and Loren Hershey.

Notable donors: Sam Hershey ($5,657).

Notes: Buffkin seems like the early favorite to replace the retiring Dickie Thompson. More than three-quarters of Hershey’s funds came from people named Hershey. 

---

CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT B

David Cox (inc.)

About: 61, computer scientist with ABB, Raleigh City Council member 2015–present. 

Raised: $18,810  |  Donors: 60

Average donation: $314  |  Cash on hand: $17,401

Maxed-out donors: Dean and Sesha Debnam.

Brian Fitzsimmons

About: 36, project manager of AssuredPartners, former chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party, former member of the city’s Human Relations Committee.

Raised: $25,820  |  Donors: 142

Average donation: $182  |  Cash on hand: $19,115

Maxed-out donors: None

Notable donors: Eric Braun ($2,750); state representative Darren Jackson ($250); Smedes York ($1,250).

Notes: More than half of Cox’s money comes from one source—the Debnams. 

---

CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT C

Shelia Alamin-Khashoggi

About: 56, owner of Beary Special Daycare, former member of the city’s Human Relations Committee, 2017 candidate for Raleigh City Council.

Raised: $3,290  |  Donors: 4

Average donation: $802 

Cash on hand: $1,040

Maxed-out donors: None

Corey Branch (inc.)

About: 41, associate director of technology for AT&T, Raleigh City Council member 2015–present. 

Raised: $2,381  |  Donors: 9

Average donation: $802 

Cash on hand: $1,900

Maxed-out donors: None

Notable donors: James Goodmon ($1,456); Orage Quarles III ($242). 

Wanda Hunter

About: 39, finance manager for Blueprint North Carolina.

Raised: 400  |  Donors: 1 (self)

Average donation: $400 

Cash on hand: $379

Ricky Scott

About: 58, teaching consultant, chairman of the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities, former member of the city’s Human Relations Committee.

Raised: $90  |  Donors: 2

Average donation: $45 

Cash on hand: $44

Notes: Branch narrowly upset council member Eugene Weeks in 2015, so anything’s possible. But Branch losing this year strikes us as unlikely. 

---

CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT D

Brittany Bryan

About: 38, regional manager for EBSCO.

Raised: $17,672  |  Donors: 66

Average donation: $268 

Cash on hand: $16,686

Maxed-out donors: Retired health administrator Susan Yaggy.

Notable donors: Attorney Andrew Epstein; Isaac Hunter’s Hospitality co-owner Zack

Medford ($500).

Kay Crowder (inc.)

About: 63, retired, Raleigh City Council member 2014–present.

Raised: $32,934  |  Donors: 106

Average donation: $310 

Cash on hand: $65,206

Maxed-out donors: James Goodmon.

Notable donors: Wake Citizens Advisory Council co-chairperson Donna Bailey ($500); Janet Cowell ($100); John Kane ($2,500); Smedes York ($100). 

Saige Martin

About: 28, fund director for Open Road Alliance.

Raised: $55,724  |  Donors: 157

Average donation: $355 

Cash on hand: $34,795

Maxed-out donors: Writer Noel Moore; First Bancorp CEO Richard Moore; Eleanor Crook Foundation director William Moore.

Notable donors: Eric Braun ($1,750); Texas retiree Eleanor Crook ($5,000); Sig Hutchinson ($250); Ruby Deluxe owner Timothy Lemuel ($100); Angela Salamanca ($500); Raleigh Denim co-founder Sarah Yarborough ($100).

April Parker

About: 25, policy and development coordinator for Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform.

Raised: $53  |  Donors: 3

Average donation: $18 

Cash on hand: $38

Notes: Crowder rolled over significant coin from 2017, when she effectively ran unopposed. But Martin, whose father-in-law is a former state treasurer-turned-bank-executive, should have all the funds he needs to compete. 

---

CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT E

David Knight

About: 51, owner of Knight Consulting, former member of the Raleigh Water Conservation Task Force, former member of the Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board.

Raised: $68,656  |  Donors: 122

Average donation: $563 

Cash on hand: $66,682

Maxed-out donors: Eric Braun; Plexus Capital investment banker Molly Painter; Trail Creek Investments investors Hamilton Sloan and Temple Sloan; retiree Hamilton Sloan and homemaker Ann Sloan. 

Notable donors: John Kane ($2,500); Sig Hutchinson ($250); Charles Meeker ($250); David Meeker ($250). 

Stef Mendell (inc.)

About: 64, retired, Raleigh City Council member 2017–present. 

Raised: $28,935  |  Donors: 118

Average donation: $245 

Cash on hand: $30,642

Maxed-out donors: Dean and Sesha Debnam.

Notable donors: Wake County Commissioners Vickie Adamson and Jessica Holmes ($100 each); state representatives Cynthia Ball and Allison Dahle, and state senator Wiley Nickel ($250 each); Campbell Alliance co-founder Ann Campbell ($500).

Notes: In 2017, Mendell edged out Bonner Gaylord, owing largely to the fact that Gaylord didn’t take her seriously. (Gaylord had more than $100,000 in his campaign bank account on Election Day.) Now she’s the council’s most vulnerable incumbent. 

---

Correction: This story originally referred to Erskine Bowles as a North Carolina congressman. He was not. Instead, he was a White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and president of the UNC system from 2006–10. The INDY regrets the error.

Contact editor in chief Jeffrey C. Billman at jbillman@indyweek.com. 

Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.