Oil PACs, a Hawaii donor? A look inside Hilton Head SC House race’s $76K in donations
A professor in South Dakota, a lab tech in Minnesota and S.C. Planned Parenthood have something in common: They all contributed to the Democratic candidate running to represent Hilton Head Island in the Statehouse.
Christine deVries, trying to unseat three-term S.C. Rep. Jeff Bradley, a Republican, has out-raised him by more than $23,000 with donations from people in 21 states and at least one other country. The money has come through a telephone fundraising campaign and a national network of Democratic voters seeking to turn offices blue.
Bradley, on the other hand, has received contributions from The Boeing Co., the BP North American Employee PAC and Duke Energy Corp. PAC, according to his campaign financial disclosures.
These two fundraising strategies account for over $70,000 in total contributions, making Bradley and deVries’ contest the most expensive House race in Beaufort and Jasper counties. While many residents took advantage of early voting and cast their ballots well before Bradley and deVries filed their final campaign contribution disclosures, it’s important to examine how money from outside South Carolina is influencing even the most local political races.
A look at Bradley’s finances
Bradley’s contributions this year have doubled those of his previous re-election campaign, which he won with 61% of the vote against Mario Martinez in 2018.
That election cycle, he received $13,250 in contributions, according to his campaign disclosures. This year, he’s raised $26,625.
Most of this year’s corporate and PAC donors are returning contributors to Bradley’s campaign — The Boeing Co., AT&T South Carolina PAC, Friends of Farm Bureau and and McLane Co. Inc., a food supply chain company, all gave to his 2018 campaign.
While each corporation may have interests in South Carolina, it’s unclear how the contributions could impact the island — which has sparse farm land and a growing airport.
“I don’t solicit any of that money. It just shows up in the mail,” Bradley said in an interview.
He said his pro-business credentials could be the reason these corporations support him, not because they want something specifically from him.
“I think regulations are an impediment to people’s lives and business,” said Bradley. “Maybe businesses see me as a positive member of the House and want to support me in that regard.”
Employee political action committees, from oil giant BP and energy company Duke, have long histories of supporting Republican candidates.
This election season, the BP North America Employee PAC has contributed $133,000 to Republicans and $76,000 to Democrats. Their priorities in Beaufort County are unclear, although the PAC has supported candidates pushing for tax reform and others advocating for climate change action in previous elections.
Duke Energy’s employee PAC, however, has spent significantly more this election season — $388,000 in campaign contributions to Republicans and $145,000 to Democrats. The PAC does not list specific goals, but rather states on its website that “As an energy company, we are affected by the decisions made by federal, state and local officials. In turn, these decisions also affect our customers, employees and shareholders.”
Bradley’s contributions from named corporations and PACs outnumber his donations from named individuals.
According to his campaign disclosures, he’s received $16,540 from companies and corporations such as Mercedes Benz of Hilton Head, the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP State/Local Political Committee and The Carolinas Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Inc. based in Charlotte.
Donations from named individuals, including car dealership owners O.C. Welch and Jerry Stokes, make up $10,000 of Bradley’s $26,625 contribution list.
“For $1,000, if you think I’m selling out my vote or my constituency, you don’t know me very well,” said Bradley. “None of these people have an expectation of buying our vote.”
A look at deVries’ finances
The fact that a Democratic challenger has outraised a Republican incumbent in a 2020 race isn’t all that surprising.
NPR’s Susan Davis reported on a rise of “fundraging” sweeping the Democratic Party: Voters, pushed by anger or frustration or fear, are making small donations to local or national races.
Davis reported that Democrats have outraised Republican incumbents in nearly every competitive U.S. Senate race. She said that “seven 2020 races have already cracked the Top 10 list of most expensive Senate races ever,” and “Democrats have also outraised nearly every Republican in the top two dozen competitive House races and in many districts President Trump won in 2016.”
At the local level, other than Bradley, all the Republican S.C. House incumbents in Beaufort and Jasper counties have raised more than their opponents.
Of the two Democratic incumbents, only Shedron Williams has raised more than his opponent, Ashley Lawton. Michael Rivers, the other Democratic incumbent, has been outraised by his opponent, Eric Erickson, a lawyer on Fripp Island.
But deVries said she topped Bradley’s total contributions the old-fashioned way. Beginning in July, she started to spend two to three hours a day fundraising.
“You call every single person you ever knew in your life, even if you haven’t spoken to them in 35 years,” she said. “We’ve had zero in-person events, and so I have to get my message out through direct mail, through digital ads, through social media, or whatever. But that costs more money.”
The effort has resulted in contributions from across the country pouring in. Catherine Dodd, a former health administrator for the city of San Francisco, said she donated to the campaign because deVries is a good friend and helped her get involved in politics.
Candace Stevens, a U.S. citizen who retired in France and worked with deVries during the 1980s, also contributed $250 to her campaign, according to deVries and campaign finance records.
But the contributions from far and wide have also come through different means.
DeVries had the help of ActBlue, an online platform launched in 2004 that allocates campaign contributions from around the United States to Democratic campaigns.
The fundraising platform is available to candidates up and down the ballot, but it does not fundraise on behalf of any single group or campaign.
DeVries has paid around $800 to the platform in administrative fees since the start of her campaign.
“I don’t know if it was that key to my actual fundraising,” deVries said, adding that contributions processed through ActBlue probably accounted for less than $100.
She did receive contributions through the platform’s South Carolina fund, she said, but most of those were about $1.
Her connections to ActBlue, which have garnered her donations from around the country, are accompanied by over $35,129 in contributions registered to addresses in South Carolina.
DeVries has collected more donations inside the state than she has outside.
The sheer volume of donations, though, has upended the race’s power structure in just the last four months.
Candidates were required to file campaign disclosures, which list donors, contribution amounts and their addresses, on April 10, July 10 and Oct. 10. Those filings were later made available on the S.C. Ethics Commission’s website.
As of April 10, deVries had $500 in contributions, all from herself. By July 10, she had $5,601.97, and all but three contributions were from South Carolina.
Between July and October, donations ballooned.
In her Oct. 10 filing, deVries reported that she received $44,188.11 in contributions between July 10 and Oct. 10 for a total of $49,790.08 this election cycle.
What now?
Although early voting means 46,265 people in Beaufort County have already cast their ballots, outside money still has the opportunity to impact votes on Election Day.
For the S.C. House race between deVries and Bradley, an influx of money late in the election cycle means a boost few expect for a Democratic candidate.
As South Carolina politics continue to get attention on a national stage, PAC and out-of-state interest in even the most local elections may continue.
“Whether you agree or disagree, one of the ways to make a race competitive is raising money,” deVries said.
Island Packet reporters Jake Shore and Sam Ogozalek contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
