We’ve blogged about the Democratic Primary in District 19 multiple times on this site.  It’s an intriguing race featuring two candidates that couldn’t be more different, but it’s turned exceptionally ugly in recent weeks.  Most of the battle is being fought in the mailboxes of likely Democratic voters with glossy attack ads.   Today, a new wrinkle emerged that took me and many observers with their political ears to the ground by surprise.

In a recent interview with the Fayetteville Observer, Ed Donaldson claimed that his entire campaign is “self-funded.”  The campaign finance reports back this up, as Donaldson appears to have loaned his own campaign over twenty grand.  More importantly, he hasn’t reported a single donation.

There are rumors that Donaldson is being supported by the same individuals backing Republican Wesley Meredith.  In short, he’s a torpedo sent to undermine deViere and give Meredith an easier path to victory in November.

Donaldson’s behavior suggests the rumors might be true.  I have received an attack ad in the mail from Donaldson (similar to the one we blogged about here) nearly every day for the past several weeks.  Donaldson seems more intent on undermining deViere than putting out any sort of message about what he would do as a Senator.

All of this begs the question:  If you are a serious candidate for the North Carolina Senate, why aren’t you raising money?  Your Republican opponent in the fall certainly will, and he will use it to beat you into a pulp.

Donaldson hasn’t bothered to create a campaign website, and that’s where a weird race gets weirder.  Someone has created one for him: clarencedonaldson.com

The site appeared as a “paid” Google ad when I searched for his campaign site:

It includes pictures of Sean Hannity, Pat McCrory, and Trump and claims Donaldson is a Republican.

Someone is spending money on this race, we just don’t know who it is.