Old North News

Cal Cunningham is running a “people-powered campaign” as he runs for a North Carolina Senate seat, aiming to unseat incumbent Thom Tillis (R-NC) in November. 

The Democrat has also sworn off funding from corporate political action committees — but there’s a slight problem with that claim, which came in a Tweet on July 30, 2019.

The potential problem is this: He accepted thousands in small donations from political action committees connected to big corporations as a state senator nearly 20 years ago.

Cunningham received $300 from Jefferson Pilot’s PAC in March 2000, $250 from North Carolina Dental PAC in April, and in July, $750 from Carolina Power and Light Company’s political action committee. He continued to accept these contributions until May 2002, when he accepted $1,000 from the PAC associated with Duke Energy, $250 from General Electric’s PAC, $500 from the North Carolina Auto Dealers Association, $500 from Rural Electric Action Program, and $250 from North Carolina Vending Association Inc, PAC.

Cunningham has pledged not to accept a dime of corporate PAC money, making this a central point of his campaign. He says that his “job as a Senator will be to represent the people of North Carolina, not the special interests that already have too much influence in Washington.”

In his previous stint as a state senator, he served as Vice Chairman of the Governor’s Crime Commission. He was elected to serve the 23rd district between 2001 and 2003. He is also serves his country as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, following three active duty tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His campaign priorities are to make healthcare more affordable, create economic opportunity for all, improve education and take on climate change to protect the state’s environment. He also feels strongly about women’s rights and preventing gun violence.

These are obviously admirable goals. However, he has not addressed campaign contributions from his first years in the North Carolina Senate. 

As of February 2020 Cunningham has the backing of Brady PAC, whose executive director Brian Lemek spoke to Real Clear Politics in February highlighting their support for Cunningham.

“We see [Cunningham] as a winner in North Carolina, and a winner in our movement,” Lemek explained. “He served on the Governor’s Crime Commission and his positions have evolved on these issues. He now supports background checks, banning high-capacity magazines, funding gun violence research and passing red-flag laws.” 

The organization also sent an email fundraising pitch to their supporters in February 2020, noting Cunningham’s support of gun control measures.  

According to a Vox article written in March, Cunningham defeated Sen. Erica Smith to win the state’s primary, with 57 percent of the vote. In that same article, Vox discussed the two campaign fundraising efforts of Tillis and Cunningham. As of the March 4 publication date, Vox said that Tillis had the advantage in fundraising, with $5.4 million cash on hand, and Cunningham had $1.4 million.

According to OpenSecrets.org, Tillis has received almost $4 million from political action committees from 2015-2020.