(The Center Square) – Democrat Mo Green is raking in the donations in North Carolina’s election race for superintendent of public instruction.
Green raised more than six times the amount of Republican opponent Michele Morrow in the second fundraising quarter.
“Mo has made history in North Carolina: No other candidate for state Superintendent of Public Instruction has raised even close to this much before,” said Misti Williams, Green’s campaign manager, in a statement to The Center Square.
Green ended the quarter June 30 with $578,384, according to campaign finance reports.
Morrow had only $14,000 left at the end of that same period, spending $55,013.
Green had already spent more than four times that amount, with his campaign’s total expenditures at $230,810.
Morrow remains hopeful though, despite the financial gap in the race, and this wouldn’t be the first time she won a race despite challenges. In the spring primary, she upset incumbent Republican education Superintendent Catherine Truitt with very little cash on hand.
Morrow attributed the win to her campaign’s grassroots movement of “volunteers and supporters.”
Green won the Democratic primary with 66%, beating out two other candidates.
The last time North Carolina elected a Democrat as the superintendent in 2012.
While Morrow is running on school safety, school choice, and the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion policies from schools in North Carolina, Green emphasizes working to improve students’ mental health and championing public education and educators.
Williams told The Center Square that Green’s campaign wants to elect an “exceptional candidate” during a “critical juncture in North Carolina’s history of public schools.”
“Thanks to our great supporters, we can continue to show voters how Mo Green is the best person for the job, as to his opponent who homeschools her children, calls for killing many people, including Presidents Biden and Obama and Governor Cooper, and calls our system of public schools a ‘cesspool of lies, evil and deception,’” Williams added.
Green received just over $600,000 in contributions from individuals in the second quarter, while Morrow received $45,000.
Political advertising is projected to reach $362 million in North Carolina in the 2024 election cycle, meaning there will likely be historic spending in races across the state.
This makes North Carolina the 11th-highest in the country, according to a recent report released by AdImpact.
Recently, Planned Parenthood announced that North Carolina will be one of 14 states targeted by a $40 million ad campaign looking to flip the state Democratic.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a branch of Planned Parenthood working on that initiative, endorsed Green.
The Center Square was unsuccessful in obtaining a comment from the Morrow campaign.
