Candidates recently filed their second-quarter reports, which cover campaign fundraising and spending through the end of June. It’s often effectively the last chance to look at how the candidates are stacking up financially, since the third-quarter report, which runs through mid-October, is due a week before Election Day and isn’t always available before people hit the polls.
New Hanover County Commissioners race
Six candidates are running for three open seats. For the Democratic party, incumbent Jonathan Barfield, Jr., current school board member Stephanie Walker, and newcomer Cassidy Santaguida are running. For the Republican party, incumbents Dane Scalise and Bill Rivenbark are running, along with John Hinnant, who ran for state office in 2022.
Jonathan Barfield
Democratic candidate Jonathan Barfield, Jr. is running for his fifth term as a commissioner.
Barfield has raised around $24,500 in the first and second quarter, all from individual contributions, on top of around $12,000 cash-on-hand at the end of 2023.
Top donations included $5,000 from Adam Sosne, president of MFH Construction, $2,500 from Timothy Milam, owner of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, and $1,000 from Bill Cameron, co-founder of Cameron Management and current chair of the New Hanover Community Endowment’s board.
Barfield’s campaign has spent around $5,600 so far, with just shy of $2,800 going toward email marketing.
John Hinnant
Republican candidate John Hinnant is running for his first term as a county commissioner. In 2022 he ran for state representative against Democrat Deb Butler, and $16,000 from that committee has transferred to his current campaign.
On top of his existing campaign funds, Hinnant has raised just under $35,000, largely from individual donations, with $2,250 coming from the Lower Cape Fear Republican Women.
Other top donations included $2,500 from Frank Gorham, an oil and gas executive who previously served as the chair of the Costal Resources Commission (his spouse Ramsay also donated $2,500), and $2,000 from Michael McCarley, owner of Carline Marine Terminal.
Hinnant’s campaign has spent around $18,700, mostly on email campaigns, print material, and accounting fees.
Bill Rivenbark
Republican candidate Bill Rivenbark is running for his second term on the Board of Commissioners, where he has served as chair since December 2022. He was previously elected to the New Hanover County Board of Education in 2018, but left halfway through his term to run for commissioner in 2020.
Rivenbark came into the 2024 campaign year with roughly $18,000 already raised, including $6,500 from top members of Cape Fear Commercial including founders and top partners like Vin Wells, Brian Eckel, and Mike Brown — as well as Rivenbark’s brother Charlie, a senior partner at CFC and longtime Wilmington city council member.
For the first and second quarters of this year, Rivenbark’s campaign has had a more modest fundraising total of $6,000, including $2,250 from the Lower Cape Fear Republican Women, $2,500 from Timothy Milam, owner of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, and $1,000 from Carolina Beach restaurant owner Jeff Stokley.
Rivenbark’s campaign spent just under $7,400, although some of that has been contributions to non-profits — including GLOW, the Carousel Center, Communities in Schools — and other campaigns, among them fellow commissioner Dane Scalise, superintendent of public instruction Catherine Truitt (who lost to Michelle Morrow in a surprise upset in the GOP primary), and state auditor candidate Dave Boliek.
Cassidy Santaguida
Democratic candidate Cassidy Santaguida is running for her first term as commissioner.
Santaguida raised a modest amount of funding at the end of last year — around $4,400. This year, her campaign has raised roughly $28,000, almost all from individual donations, with the exception of a roughly $1,000 in-kind donation from the state Democratic party for access to the Votebuilder system.
Top donations included nearly $4,800 from Dorothy ‘Dory’ Weiss, who works with Wilmington-based software company Vantaca. Donations also came from several other members of the local Democratic party — including $1,850 from former State Senate candidate Marcia Morgan, $1,000 from Representative Deb Butler, and $1,000 from former New Hanover County Democratic Party chair Richard Poole.
Santaguida’s campaign has spent just shy of $15,000, most of it in the second quarter. Top expenses include around $4,000 for yard signs, just under $3,300 for consulting from Blue Ridge Campaign Group, NC, and around $1,500 for a television ad.
Dane Scalise
Republican candidate Dane Scalise is running for his first full term after being appointed last year to fill the seat vacated by the tragic, unexpected death of Deb Hays.
Scalise started fundraising early, with over $83,000 raised by the end of 2023. His campaign has raised over $180,000 by the end of the second quarter. The vast majority of that was raised from individual contributions, with just $3,500 coming from PAC donations.
Support for Scalise has come from people in various important local sectors, including attorneys, real estate experts, builders, and developers. A significant group of donations totaling more than $28,000 came on one day in late February from people working with Cape Fear Commercial and Cape Fear Development, including founders and top partners like Vin Wells, Brian Eckel, Mike Brown, and Paul Louikas.
Scalise’s campaign has spent just over $82,000 through the end of the second quarter. Top expenses were around $37,000 for filming and distributing a television commercial, $5,000 on NC Red Strategies, a campaign consulting firm, and roughly $4,000 each for billboard ads and treasurer services. The campaign has also donated just under $8,000 to other campaigns and organizations, including $2,500 to The American Council of Young Political Leaders.
Stephanie Walker
Democratic candidate Stephanie Walker is running for her first term as a commissioner, after serving one term on the New Hanover Board of Education.
Walker’s campaign started the year with just over $1,000 and has since raised a total of around $10,300, including a $1,050 in-kind donation for ActBlue access. Nearly all of Walker’s donations have been $500 or less, except for roughly $2,000 from her husband Laurie ($1,800 and a $250 in-kind donation).
Walker’s campaign has spent just under $5,400 so far, roughly $3,500 in the second quarter. A top expense was around $1,600 for yard signs.
New Hanover County school board race
The New Hanover County Board of Education has three open seats with no incumbents running, as Republican Stephanie Kraybill and Democrat Hugh McManus have both chosen not to run for reelection and Democrat Stephanie Walker is running for a seat on the county's Board of Commissioners.
There are six candidates running: Republicans David Perry, Natosha Tew, and Nikki Bascome, and Democrats Tim Merrick, Jerry Jones, Jr., and former school board member Judy Justice, who served from 2018-2022.
Nikki Bascome
Republican candidate Nikki Bascome is running for her first term as a school board member. By the end of the second quarter, she had raised just over $8,200, including a $905 donation from the Lower Cape Fear Republican Women’s Club.
Top donations include from $1,000 from Hank Estep, an influential conservative donor and president of the GriffinEstep Benefit Group, and $1,000 from Bascome’s husband Warren.
Bascome’s campaign has spent around $2,600 through the second quarter, including around $500 each for mobile and radio ads.
Jerry Jones
Democratic candidate Jerry Jones is running for his first term. Jones' campaign hasn’t filed a second-quarter report, so there’s limited information on his campaign finances.
Jones’ first-quarter report, which is sparsely filed out, lists $1,000 in identified donations and $720 in smaller, anonymous donations.
Jones’ campaign has spent around $770, the majority on yard signs.
Judy Justice
Judy Justice is running for her second term as a school board member. She was previously elected to a four-year term in 2018, but lost her 2022 reelection bid.
Through the second quarter, Justice’s campaign had raised $2,230, all from individual donations, and about a third from anonymous smaller donations. The top donation was $500 from Greta Harrelson, president of CP Brunswick; it was the only donation over $100.
Justice’s campaign spent about $1,130 through the second quarter, the top expenses were printing supplies and yard sign placement.
Tim Merrick
Democratic candidate Tim Merrick is running for his first term as a school board member.
Through the second quarter, Merrick’s campaign has raised just over $26,300, including about $4,650 in smaller anonymous donations under $50. While Merrick’s top donations are from out of state — $1,000 from Pam Jones, a retired educator from Fairfax, Virginia, and $1,000 from Rick Murad, from Jersey City, New Jersey — he also received dozens of donations of between $100 and $500 from the Wilmington area.
Merrick’s campaign has spent close to $8,700 so far. Top costs include processing costs for credit card donations, t-shirts, and print media — as well as refunds to the committee.
David Perry
Republican candidate David Perry is running for his first term as a school board member. He previously ran for state representative as a Libertarian candidate in 2018.
Through the second quarter Perry’s campaign raised close to $11,200, the majority of which — over $8,000 — came from Perry himself. Additionally, the Lower Cape Fear Republican Women’s Club donated $905.
Perry’s campaign has spent around $10,600 through the end of June. Just over $6,000 on yard signs, $1,800 was spent on campaign ads through Republicanads.com and My Internet Scout, and $500 in loan repayments.
Natosha Tew
Republican candidate Natosha Tew is running for her first term as a school board member.
Tew’s campaign reports raising about $11,000 through the end of the second quarter. The campaign’s second-quarter report is itself sparsely filled out, and doesn’t provide details on the roughly $6,000 in donations or $5,200 in expenses.
However, in the campaign’s first-quarter filing, the top donations included $500 from consulting firm founder Zane Newitt, $200 from New Hanover County Board of Elections member Bruce Kemp, and $400 from business owner Diane Zaryki, who is also Tew’s treasurer.
Tew’s first-quarter expenses were just shy of $3,800, with top costs being signs, website management, and an unnamed campaign manager.
