Large donations from NC companies to RSLC when it funded Robin Hudson attack ads

The Republican State Leadership Committee's April financial report was posted to the IRS site this week, showing large contributions from North Carolina-based companies. These transactions happened during the period in which the RSLC funded Justice for All NC's $800,000 attack ad against incumbent Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson. The Hudson race was part of a North Carolina primary drenched in outside money. 

The RSLC's two payments to Justice for All both occured in late April: $650,000 on April 23 and $250,000 on April 30, funding ads that ran from April 21 through May 6, the primary election day. The ads cost a total of $766,550. 

MMIC Agency, LLC (Medical Mutual Insurance Company), based in Raleigh, gave the largest donation, $100,000, on April 30. Medical Mutual also gave money to Justice for All NC and NC Chamber IE, the second biggest spender in the Hudson primary race, this election cycle. Reynolds American, by far the state's largest donor to the RSLC, added $25,000 on April 25 to its contribution sum this election cycle, totaling $814,000 in 2013-14. A new contributor, Burning Tree Investments of Durham, also gave $25,000 on April 25, and Duke Energy gave $10,000 the same day, moving its total contributions to the RSLC this election cycle to $60,000. Duke Energy is the state's sixth largest donor to the RSLC since 2011, at $235,000. 

Other large donors in recent months are Time Warner Cable and Lorillard Tobacco Company, who both gave $50,000 to the RSLC in late March. Lorillard gave $25,000 to Justice for All in 2012. 

Hudson won her primary and will face the runner-up, Eric Levinson, in the November general election. Find out about five key players behind the ads in the Hudson race, and read about Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies research in the national media.