NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The third-quarter campaign finance reports have dropped, showing New Hanover County Commissioner candidates cumulatively raised just more than $640,000 so far this election cycle. They also spent more than half-a-million to date leading up to the midterm elections.

READ MORE: Over $2.5M raised in races for New Hanover commissioners, school board, and state reps

Port City Daily, WHQR and WECT partnered to break down each race, with WHQR publishing the N.C. General Assembly candidates’ campaign finances, available here. WECT took on school board candidates, which will be published on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

One takeaway: Top fundraisers — and spenders — don’t always account for a win. For instance, Republican LeAnn Pierce has raised the most money this election season and received 21.74%, or 42,217 votes, falling behind Democrat LeShonda Wallace in the polls this year. Wallace, who received 26.29%, or 51,063 votes, is the newly elected commissioner, alongside Rob Zapple winning re-election. 

Zapple was the top vote-getter at the polls securing 28.97%, or 56,259, votes. Republican Richard Collier came in fourth with 20.27% and 39,369 votes and Libertarian Bob Drach, who raised the least amount of money, had the least amount of votes at 2.73% and 5,299.

Some donors overlapped in races in Q3, particularly real estate-adjacent professionals who donated to Zapple, Pierce, and Collier. Cape Fear Development/Cape Fear Commercial, McKinley Building Corp, D. Logan Homes, and Cameron Management, for instance, donated to multiple candidates.

Collier is an engineer with McKim and Creed and serves on the Wilmington Planning Commission, while Zapple owns his own contracting company, Rob Zapple Design and Build Inc. Pierce is a former hotel owner and mayor of Carolina Beach. 

Wallace earned a Ph.D in public health and is the founder of the HIV/AIDS-advocacy and awareness nonprofit SEEDS of Healing; she received a good amount of backing from health industry professionals. Drach, whose career is in manufacturing and financial management, has a primarily self-funded campaign.

A few items to keep in mind while reading: Third-quarter campaign reports cover a four-month period, July 1 through Oct. 17, 2026. Fourth-quarter reports are due Jan. 12, 2027 for Oct. 18 through Dec. 31 and will cover final weeks leading up to the midterm elections.

Individual contributors and PACs are allowed by state law to give a candidate a $6,800 maximum donation. A donor may give the max amount during a primary election period and an additional $6,800 for the general election period, though candidates and their spouses are exempt from the limit. 

A donor can remain anonymous for any amount given that is $50 or below.

Candidate campaign finance breakdowns for the New Hanover County commissioners are listed in alphabetical order below.

Richard Collier (R) — $65,545

Collier received $37,886 in donations for Q3, but had $65,545 throughout the election season so far. He started the quarter with $25,165 cash on hand. 

Of the Q3 donations, $34,386 came from individual donors. Only two maxed the $6,800 limit: Nathaniel Brown of Real Deal Investments from Cornelius, N.C., and Chris Murray of Select Star LLC from California.

Collier also received $2,083 from Jason Swain of Swain and Associates real estate development and $2,000 from Mike McCarley, retired from Carolina Marine Terminal.

A handful of $1,000 donations were remitted — from Scott Wilkinson of Efficiency Consulting, Benjy Hardee of AO Hardee and Son civil and site development contractor, and Chris Reid of Thomas Construction Group. Gregg Goldenberg of The Ardent Company (real estate) donated $1,041, and James Yopp of River Road Construction gave $1,500.

Outside of development, restaurateur George Coffin — formerly of downtown’s George — donated $1,000, as did Brett Tanner of Pinnacle Trailer Sales.

Smaller donations include $500 each from Jim Freeman of Freeman Landscaping, D. Logan II of D. Logan Homes and journalist Vic Venters, with $521 donated by Hill Rogers of Cameron Management and Sam Weldon of Blue Ridge Cascade developers.

$260 each came from appraiser Jack Morgan of JC Morgan Company, Chad Hodges of McKinley Building, and former New Hanover County Commissioner Jason Thompson of American Property Experts. 

Other current and former politicians donated to Collier as well, including $200 from former city council member Charlie Rivenbark, who works for Cape Fear Commercial (Rivenbark gave $400 throughout the election) and $500 from Wrightsville Beach Mayor Ken Dull, founder of McKinley Building Corp. 

Political committees such as the New Hanover County GOP submitted $3,000 and the political committee Davis for NC — belonging to former North Carolina State Representative Ted Davis Jr. — gave $500 this quarter. 

In operating expenditures, Collier had $42,501 in quarter three, but $44,860 year to date. This accounts for an 1,604% increase when comparing his $2,493 spend in quarter two; however, Q3 brings with it heavy operating expenses for candidates, as it falls within the final stretch ahead of Election Day, meaning ad and marketing costs often soar.

Collier spent $9,000 with Starboard Strategies for campaign consulting and digital ads buys. Firelux LLC was paid $8,880 as a deposit for a campaign film project, while New Hanover Printing received $5,658 for campaign materials. 

Campaign ad purchases of $4,758 went to Wilmington Media and Marketing (Wilmington Business Journal, Wilma), $4,140 was paid to Lamar Outdoor for billboards, and $3,593 was spent on Facebook ads.

Collier ended the quarter with $18,762 cash in hand.

Bob Drach (L) — $11,696

While Drach brought in almost $11,700 for the entire election cycle, the majority of funds, $10,044, were received in Q3. $9,764 came from individual donors — the majority from Drach. The only other people on the books for the third quarter came with Diane Davie giving $200 and Randy Reeves donating $100.

Drach’s total expenditures were $9,869, with 91% coming in Q3. He had $7,963 of in-kind contributions and $8,189 for the whole election cycle. Drach’s largest expenses this quarter went to to yard signs ($2,280), messaging ($3,500), and Radar Ads ($1,180).

The Libertarian candidate paid Prometheus $500 for messaging and the Cape Fear Libertarian Party made a $278 donation, spent on advertising for his campaign.

Drach started Q3 with $826 cash on hand and ended with $1,827.

LeAnn Pierce (R) — $379,120

Pierce out-raised her candidate counterparts by three times or more this election bringing in to date $379,120. In quarter three, Pierce raised $46,695; of that, $32,875 came from individual donors.

In a similar vein to Collier, Nathaniel Brown of Reel Real Investments in Cornelius gave the max amount of $6,800 to Pierce’s campaign, and Jason Swain of Swain and Associates donated $2,000. Michael McCarley of Atlantic Diving and Marine Contractors contributed $2,500, with Bill Cherry, founder of Air Wilmington, donating $1,500. 

Numerous individuals provided $1,000 each as well: Stephen Bright of Talbert and Bright airport engineering and consulting firm, Wrightsville Beach Mayor Ken Dull of McKinley Building Corp, Shawn Horton of Trusst Builder Group, and CFCC trustee chair and local entrepreneur Lanny Wilson.

Around 16 people gave $500, including Umar Bowers of Dawson Medical, Pat Koballa of Coastal Kia, Walter Kusek of Kusek Financial Group, Wayne Venters III of Venters Construction, and Bradley Tilyou of Tilyou Homes, among others.

About a third of Pierce’s donations came from political action committees, such as the North Carolina Realtors PAC which provided the largest amount at $6,800. The Build Political Action Committee of NC Home Builders Association also gave $3,000, while another political committee, The Island Preservation Society, donated $1,000.

The New Hanover County Republican Party also provided Pierce’s campaign $3,000.

Area politicians who showed support for Pierce include former Wrightsville Beach Alderman Hank Miller ($1,000 this quarter; $2,000 the whole election), current WB Alderman Margaret Baggett ($100), WB Alderman Todd Schoen ($500), and Carolina Beach council member Wayne Rouse ($1,000). 

Pierce spent $355,533 overall in the campaign, but in Q3 paid out $189,724. The largest amount, $100,000, went to Red Zone Strategic LLC for streaming media, while $18,000, was remitted to Lamar Advertising for billboards, and $11,128, went to Campaign HQ for texting services. $7,456 went to Super Cheap Signs for yard signage.

$8,212 was spent with Fire Horse Films for a commercial and video work, and $7,500 was given to Capital Communications for consulting. 

Locally, $18,250 was spent with WECT, about $5,000 went to Tedder Media Management for outdoor advertising, and $2,400 went to Port City Daily for digital ads this quarter ($7,200 the whole election). $875 went toward Facebook ads.

Pierce started the quarter with $163,454 cash on hand and ended with $20,375.

LeShonda Wallace (D) — $67,422 

Wallace’s donations this quarter were $34,311, but overall she has brought in $67,422 in the election cycle.

She had the most individual anonymous donors at 92, who gave $50 or less, with just more than 40 donating $100 — by far the most of these two funding categories of all candidates.

Wallace’s largest donations came from Cate Scanlon, who gave $2,015, while philanthropist Anne York of Wrightsville Beach donated $1,500, former Senate District 7 candidate Marcia Morgan contributed $825 ($1,325 this election), Pamela Jones gave $1,000, and Laurie Janus gave $500 this quarter ($1,000 to date).

With a Ph.D in public health, Wallace had multiple donors in the healthcare field back her this election season, including Jon Martell, former physician and founder of the Five Star Project, which has been advocating to hold Novant accountable for its poor Leap Frog ratings throughout the years. He gave $600 this quarter, but overall donated $2,600 throughout Wallace’s campaign. 

Others in the healthcare industry who supported Wallace include Eden Avery, a behavioral health coordinator of Coastal Horizons ($100), retired physician Jessica Cannon ($200), Dr. Jonathan Pan of Novant ($200), nurse midwife Laura Schultz ($350), Dr. Constance Foreman of Novant ($250), Maurice Locklear, physician at Cape Fear Clinic ($500) and Mayra Overstreet Galeano, physician at MedNorth ($500). 

Endowment board members — current and former — showed support for Wallace as well. The candidate’s nonprofit, SEEDS of Healing, has been a grant recipient of Endowment funding in the past. Supporting her election was Bill Cameron of Cameron Management Inc. and Virginia Adams, a retired nurse, who gave $500, and Hannah Gage donated $250. Spence Broadhurst, also a former Wilmington mayor, contributed $750 this quarter. 

Marlowe Foster, who ran for the city council in 2023 and serves as the executive director at Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity, donated $250 ($750 to date).

Local politicians, including Democratic House Rep. Deb Butler ($250), city council member David Joyner ($500), and county commissioners Rob Zapple ($500) and Stephanie Walker ($400) also donated.

Wallace’s total spend is $31,116 for Q3 ($65,038 for all quarters). Her biggest expenses went to WECT for $5,150 in media ads; $2,990 to Lamar Advertising for advertising; $2,750 to Inspire Productions for media ads and a social media manager; $1,233 for Facebook ads ($1,285 to date); and $1,273 to Wilmington Business.

This quarter Wallace forked out $1,254 to Custom Printed Signs and $1,072 to Age Graphics for signage, $919 to DaisyChain for phone banking ($2,759 the whole election), $872 to Creators Print House for T-shirts ($1,051.28 the whole election), and $789 to Consolidated Press for media cards.

The candidate’s operating expenses included paying various organizations to be part of Q3 community events — $1,125 to the NAACP, $505 to the N.C. Democratic Party and $250 to the LGBTQ Center of the Cape Fear Coast.

Wallace marked $3,000 in-kind expenses. She also had a non-monetary gift, worth $947, from Carolina Federation PAC for donating staff time, canvassing cards, sample ballots, and get out the vote flyers.

She began the quarter in the red — at negative $810. By its end, Wallace had $2,384 cash on hand.

Rob Zapple (D) — $120,971

Overall, Zapple brought in almost $121,000 for the election season, with $59,291 coming in during quarter three. 

Around $10,800 came from political committees, some of whom mirrored Pierce: the Build Political Action Committee of NC Home Builders Association donated $1,000, while the North Carolina Realtors PAC gave $6,800.

The First National Bank Corporation PAC donated $3,000 to Zapple. 

Of the $48,084 in individual donations this quarter ($107,000 for the year to date), team members from Cape Fear Commercial/Cape Fear Development proved to be some of Zapple’s most robust donors. Co-founder Brian Eckel gave $2,000 this quarter ($4,500 overall), while his partner Michael Brown donated $2,000; Calvin Wells, who does real estate sales, donated $2,000 ($4,500 the whole campaign) and Will Schoettelkotte of development services contributed $2,000.

Other development industry folks who contributed include Bryan Thomas of Monteith Construction ($3,000), D. Logan of Logan Developers ($1,000) and Hill Rogers of Cameron Management ($1,000).

Multiple folks in the hospitality industry supported Zapple this go  round, too. Gil Johnson contributed $2,500, as did his Prost partner Justin Smith with $1,000 ($1,500 the whole campaign). Mary Baggett, who once owned and operated Blockade Runner, gave $1,500. $1,000 contributions came from Anne Bonny’s owner Steven Gaconnier, K-Town co-owner Kyra Tebo, and The Rift co-owner Katie Lewis.

Area politicians showed support for Zapple, too, including his Democratic commissioner colleague Stephanie Walker who provided a $300 donation this quarter. City council member David Joyner gave $500 and Wrightsville Beach Mayor Ken Dull, owner of McKinley Building Corp. gave $1,000, while WB Aldermen Todd Schoen provided $500 and Rep. Deb Butler showed support for $250.

Former Wilmington mayor Spence Broadhurst donated $500 this quarter and $1,500 the whole election, and former city council member Paul Lawler also gave $250 this quarter, $500 to date.

The Committee to Elect Brittnei LaRue also donated $100 and the New Hanover County Democratic Party gave $300 this quarter.

Zapple’s campaign spent $54,740 in Q3 and $99,219 this election season so far. Advertising spends for Q3 included $12,598 for direct mailing, paid to The Media Corporation (which received $18,997 to date). $10,655 was given to 40 East Advertising ($13,150 for the election) for TV ads, along with $5,000 to 1631 Digital. Lamar Advertising received $5,727 for billboards ($10,742 all election season), alongside $4,680 spent with Age Graphics for yard signs, $1,338 to Greater Wilmington Business Journal and $1,000 to Port City Daily (though $2,300 was spent throughout the election) for ads.

Zapple’s campaign also spent $930 to Robocent for text messaging ($3,646 for the election).

Around $7,500 was spent this quarter on campaign consulting, including $5,000 to South Bridge Political Partners ($12,500 this election) and $2,500 to independent TV producer Doc Jarden ($7,500 this election).

Zapple ended the quarter with $23,441 cash on hand.

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