Beasley widens money advantage over Budd in NC Senate race

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cheri Beasley’s fundraising advantage over Republican rival Ted Budd widened during the past three months and entering the campaign’s final weeks. Budd’s campaign reported over the weekend that it raised close to $4.8 million during the three months ending Sept. 30. That’s barely one-third the roughly $13.4 million that Beasley announced days earlier that she had raised in the same quarter. Budd’s campaign said similar third-quarter fundraising advantages in recent North Carolina Senate races by Democrats didn’t equate into electoral victories. Budd’s monetary deficit has largely been closed by national Republican groups spending large sums of money opposing Beasley.