- Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, donated $969,200 to North Carolina Democrats in 2024, and made headlines this week for wishing he had “made [Trump] an actual martyr.”
- While Democrats raised $2.8 million in total for the quarter, Republicans raised $1.1 million. The two major parties were neck-and-neck when it comes to in-state individual fundraising. Democrats raised $195,000 while the GOP raised $193,000.
A small group of out-of-state mega-donors made up nearly 71% of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s individual Quarter 2 fundraising, according to the latest data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The NC Democratic Party raised $2.8 million in total for the second quarter, with nearly $1 million coming from individuals. Just $195,000 came from individuals within North Carolina, while $786,990 came from out-of-state donors who primarily live in California, New York, and Washington state.
“The individual files give a better assessment of where their fundraising is coming from,” explained Jim Stirling, research fellow at the John Locke Foundation. “If we include the totals, it dilutes how much is out of state because of things like caucus dues. This gives a better apples-to-apples comparison.”
Among out-of-state donors contributing to North Carolina politics is Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and board member at Microsoft, who made headlines this week for wishing he had “made [Trump] an actual martyr.”
Peter Thiel sarcastically thanked Reid Hoffman for funding lawsuits against Trump because they had turned him into “a martyr,” increasing his chances of re-election.
From the stage, Hoffman shot back with his own sarcastic quip: “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.” https://t.co/c9u6ifLvaW
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) July 12, 2024
Hoffman, a resident of Washington, donated $3,200 to the NC Democratic Party in quarter two. However, a deeper dive reveals Hoffman has donated $969,200 to North Carolina Democrats in 2024 alone.
Additionally, he gave $10,496 to the Democratic Federal Committee, $6,600 to Don Davis running in a contentious race for Congressional District 1, and $125,000 to Clear Choice PAC, INC, the group that has been fighting to keep third-party candidates Cornel West and RFK Jr. off the ballot.
Another Washington resident, Lisa Menet, donated $200,000 to the NC Democratic Party, with a total of $208,000 flowing directly from Washington to North Carolina in quarter two.
Also on the west coast, California donors sent a combined total of $197,000 to the North Carolina Democratic Party in quarter two. The majority of the funds were from Elizabeth Simons, who donated $90,000, and Barbara Karplus, who donated $60,000.
From New York, hedgefund members funneled about $370,000 to the NC Democratic Party with Philip Munger contributing the vast majority at $350,000. Munger wrote three different checks to the state party of varying amounts throughout the quarter. Philip Munger is the son of Charles Munger Sr., who was a business partner of liberal investor Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway.
Philip Munger has similarly made momentous donations to other state parties. In 2015, he donated $1 million spread out among four different checks to the Democratic Party of Virginia, the Washington Post highlighted.
While Democrats raised $2.8 million in total for the quarter, Republicans raised $1.1 million with $310,000 coming from individuals. Both parties were neck-and-neck when it comes to in-state individual fundraising. Democrats raised $195,000 while the GOP raised $193,000, or about 62% from within the state.
Of the GOP’s $117,000 raised from individuals out-of-state, about $80,000 was from the Catawba Indian Nation, which is registered in South Carolina but covers North Carolina as well. The funds are labeled as an individual contribution but the state Democratic Party lists group donations in a different category.
“The State Republican Party report doesn’t show a great comparison of in-state vs out-of-state with Democrats because they filed Native American Tribal donations differently,” explained Stirling. “Republicans put it under individual funds while Democrats put it into a separate fund. If we remove the $80,000 from the Catawba Indian Nation from the individual category, Republicans sit at roughly 84% in-state funding from individuals.”
The largest North Carolina donors to the state GOP capped at $40,000 in the latest report. Notable names include Marcus Smith, the CEO of Speedway Motorsports who gave $20,000, and Lenny Peters, who gave a $40,000 donation and runs the Lenny Peters Foundation.