RALEIGH — A group named Patriots First Super PAC announced that Jonathan Felts and Michael Luethy would serve as the top advisors leading an independent expenditure effort supporting Mark Robinson for governor.
The group, which initally filed paperwork with the N.C. State Board of Elections in 2022, now appears to be ramping up its activity.
Felts and Luethy, who led Ted Budd’s successful 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, are two of the most highly-regarded and sought after consultants in the state.
In a statement this week, the two were lauded for their work on the Budd campaign, saying they started more than 40 points down but won the primary by 34 points and the only battleground/purple state Republican U.S. Senate nominee to win in November 2022.
Felts took on the newest candidate in the Republican primary, Salisbury trial attorney Bill Graham, linking him to former Gov. Pat McCrory.
“The Republican primary will be decided by the NC GOP grassroots across the state,” said Felts, “and these folks support Mark Robinson. Bill Graham’s campaign, like Pat McCrory’s Senate campaign in 2022, is focused only on major donors and political insiders.”
A few weeks earlier Graham unveiled his campaign leadership team, which is led by Paul Shumaker and Jordan Shaw. Shumaker and Shaw have seen success in the state for a number of years, but were unable to lead McCrory past Budd in 2022.
“I would encourage donors to be dubious of any Graham-McCrory consultants who are claiming, once again, that a conservative Republican can’t win in North Carolina. A conservative Republican won in 2022 and will win again in 2024. There ain’t any North Carolina voters clamoring for a Republican version of personal injury lawyer John Edwards,” Felts added.
