Local

CEOs, far-flung billionaires among big donors in Bishop-McCready race

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Finally, North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District has a resolution to a race that dragged out over two years. On Tuesday, Republican state Sen. Dan Bishop defeated Democrat Dan McCready with just under 51% of the vote in a special election.

[DISTRICT 9: Bishop holds onto GOP seat in do-over election]

But what about the money? And how did Metallica, The Walking Dead, LinkedIn, one of the architects behind the state’s omnibus 2016 voter law and the owner of a Jackson Hole, Wyoming, ski resort play a part in all of this? Not to mention familiar names and companies such as Erskine Bowles, Hugh McColl and Art Pope as well as Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, Coca-Cola Consolidated and Duke Energy Corp.

The race wound up costing close to $20 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, with final fundraising and spending disclosures due next month. McCready more than doubled Bishop’s campaign fundraising through late August, but, in a comparison of spending on behalf of the candidates by outside groups, Bishop maintained a lopsided advantage that offset the gap in campaign donations.

Federal Election Commission filings for this year through Aug. 21 show Bishop with $1.95 million received, including $1.4 million worth of itemized contributions. McCready’s haul, respectively, was $4.95 million and $3 million.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, outside money spent touting Bishop or opposing McCready totaled close to $7 million as of this week, compared with just under $4 million boosting McCready or knocking Bishop.

Check out CBJ's analysis here for a look at the biggest contributors in this closely watched race:

RELATED CONTENT: 

>> Reading this story in our app? The new "Follow the Lead" feature allows you to tap the blue tag indicated with a '+' to subscribe to alerts on the very latest breaking news updates.