Berger Upended in NC Senate Race: Money's Hidden Role

It's April 3rd, I'm Cory with the story, and this is Durham News today, local news

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In North Carolina's Republican primary for state senate leader, longtime powerhouse

Phil Berger got upset by rocking him county sheriff Sam Page.

Berger raised almost $3 million directly and had a Trump endorsement, but outside groups

poured in big cash to lift Page, whose own.

Campaigns scraped just over $80,000.

The real story is how much of that outside money stays hidden from public view.

A lot of this comes from nonprofits and committees running ads that mention candidates without

straight-up telling folks to vote one way or another, called Issue Advocacy.

These skirt full donor disclosures, especially in primaries.

Back in 2013, under Berger's senate leadership, lawmakers dial back rules that once forced

more openness on these groups.

Paying finance expert Bob Hall blasted a set up as two opaque, saying it lets big spinners

hide while influencing races.

Page got boosts from outfits like the Piedmont Accountability Coalition, which dropped hundreds

of thousands, partly from biotech bigwigs, and the, Guildford Rockingham Alliance, spending

over $440,000 on anti-Berger ads with zero donor info filed yet.

Even Berger's side had traceable help from groups like NC True Conservatives, funded partly

by national Republicans, but Hall warns plenty more.

Mailers and ads flew under the radar.

The strategy for Pages Backers was pumping up turnout in his home county to counterlosses

elsewhere, proving local ties can beat big bucks.

Sometimes, state elections officials can probe these gaps, but with rules favoring secrecy,

the push for clear money trails and North Carolina politics keeps, heating up as more

races unfold.