#ncga: In SD-1, Phelps (D) outrai$ed Steinburg (R) in Q2
I’m starting to see a pattern here.
Bill Cook (R) is stepping down from his admirable tenure representing district 1. The district on the ballot for November is more Democrat-friendly than the one Cook has been serving.
State Rep. Bob Steinburg (R) is seeking to move up to the state senate. He’s a known quantity in the area who came out on top in a very nasty May primary.
The latest fundraising numbers are out. According to disclosure reports on 
file with the state, the Steinburg campaign raised $48,417.50 for the second quarter of 2018. However, his Democrat challenger Cole Phelps reports raising $73,788.04 for the same period.
Even though the seat is open, Steinburg — as a sitting House member — is basically the incumbent here. Once again, it IS unusual for a sitting member of the majority party to be outraised by a challenger from the minority party.
This seat is now very marginal. Twiddy was the GOP’s chance to hold it, and now that hope is gone. But one has to go back farther and blame it on Berger for making this seat so marginal in order to gerrymander Bill Cook out of his Senate seat. Bill Cook has indeed been a great Senator, but once Berger sold out to Big Solar and Big Wind, they wanted Cook out as Cook knows that issue and stands firm on GOP principle, something the new, politically ambitious Berger no longer does.
Twiddy, unfortunately blew his own race by refusing to talk about Steinburg while Steinburg was misrepresenting things about Twiddy. Refusing to go negative under any circumstances is a good way to commit political suicide. As a result, the GOP now has a very substandard nominee in Steinburg who is road kill for the Democrats in November.
AGREE, Senator Cook was excellent. Steinburg will not represent the total Area Well!