NC-13: On Friday, EMILY's List added attorney and philanthropist Kathy Manning to its very long roster of House endorsees, which now features 28 non-incumbents. Manning raised an eye-popping $534,000 in the fourth quarter of 2017, her first in the race, meaning she out-raised Republican Rep. Ted Budd, who took in just $180,000. She also has a sizable edge in cash-on-hand, $522,000 to $300,000.
While North Carolina's 13th District is decidedly Republican-leaning, thanks to the GOP's unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, Donald Trump's 53-44 margin actually makes it the least red GOP-held district in the state. What's more, Budd is an utterly unproven candidate. After the previous round of court-ordered redistricting (on account of the GOP's unconstitutional racial gerrymander) threw two incumbents together in the 2nd District, the current version of the 13th became an open seat in 2016. Budd, a little-known gun store owner with all the hallmarks of a Some Dude, won an absurd 17-way GOP primary with just 20 percent of the vote, thanks to $500,000 in outside spending from the Club for Growth.
Budd wasn't seriously challenged in the general election, but even then, his 56-44 win was little different from the performance at the top of the ticket. This time around, his anemic fundraising suggests he isn't taking his re-election campaign as seriously as he ought to. And it's not just EMILY's List that's excited about Manning: Last month, the DCCC added her to its "Red to Blue" program for top recruits. This is definitely the sort of sleeper race you'll want to keep an eye on, because if Manning does well here on Election Day, it means Democrats are having a good night nationwide.