Campaign Deadlines
Which Deadlines Actually Matter?
As we quickly approach the first end of month, quarter, and year mark for the 2026 campaigns since candidate filing closed, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on which campaign deadlines actually matter and why.
BLUF: December 31st is a critical deadline. Please support the 2026 NC Judicial Slate before midnight tomorrow. Every contribution helps, no matter the size!
Let’s start with a word on fundraising clickbait. Unless the candidate is Kristi Noem, don’t believe catastrophic warnings like “Puppies will die if we don’t meet our Friday the 13th fundraising goal by midnight tonight!”
Make no mistake—every day is critical in a campaign. I don’t fault candidates using whatever reasonable tactics work. Given the chance, I’d probably use a Friday the 13th fake deadline to catch attention if I was running, too (although not the puppy part, to be clear). But let’s walk through the deadlines that actually matter.
The only no-kidding, catastrophic deadline is the candidate filing deadline. Miss that and you have no campaign. That’s already passed in North Carolina. But even then, candidates can file a petition to run as an unaffiliated candidate, and that deadline is April 6, 2026. If you want to learn more, click here.
For fundraising, here are the four critical dates remaining in the 2026 election cycle in North Carolina:
December 31, 2025
February 14, 2026
June 30, 2026
October 17, 2026
These four dates are the end of the reporting periods. Contributions must be made by midnight to be on the next public disclosure, usually 10 days later. A contribution made at 11:00 pm on June 30th will be publicly reported on July 10th. However, a contribution made two hours later will not be reported until October 27th.
These four dates are critical for showing the strength and health of a campaign. The earlier a campaign raises money, the better. Not only do campaigns need money to spend money (credit is not common for campaigns), but early support drives more support.
Certain groups and big donors spend a lot of time reviewing these financial disclosure reports. Generally, they’re looking at (1) the amount raised, (2) the amount spent, (3) the number of donors, and (4) any notable donors supporting the campaign.
The amount raised is a proxy for the seriousness of a campaign. It’s not perfect, but as a general rule, serious candidates with decent odds in the election raise more money.
The amount spent goes more to the health of the campaign. Is the campaign raising substantially more than it’s spending, or is money going out the door as quickly as it’s coming in? In other words, what is the campaign’s “burn rate”?
What really matters is Cash on Hand = Amount Raised - Amount Spent. The more Cash on Hand, the more available to pay staff, organize field efforts, send mail, run digital ads, and if the campaign is big enough, buy TV ad time.
The number of contributions matters, too. Popular campaigns tend to raise a large volume of low-dollar contributions. Campaigns are a unique kind of popularity contest, and few metrics serve as a better proxy for popularity than number of supporters. This is why every contribution matters, regardless of size!
Finally, savvy politicos look at who is supporting campaigns. Here’s an easy example on the Republican side. In a GOP primary, a MAGA campaign will almost certainly notice if a prominent Never-Trumper like Bill Kristol shows up on the financial disclosures of an opponent. That might even be the subject of a mailer or ad!
So what’s the takeaway? Every contribution matters—whether $5 or $5,000—and contributing early has an amplifying effect. $5 today is a heck of a lot more valuable than $5 next October.
With that explanation, I hope you’ll consider supporting the 2026 NC Judicial Slate in any amount before midnight, December 31st!
p.s. -- for those who want more, here’s an example from 2020. This financial information feeds the machine that decides which candidates get more financial support as the cycle progresses. Early success lays the foundation for what can turn into exponential growth later.
Here are some disclosure numbers from the 2020 North Carolina state senate campaign that came the closest to flipping a Republican-held seat. These show the report close-out date, the cumulative amount raised by that date, and the number of unique contributions for that respective reporting period.
12/31/2019: $32,725.74 (88)
2/15/2020: $41,733.94 (106)
6/30/2020: $150,507.92 (1,262)
10/17/2020: $1,624,878.20 (25,579)
12/31/2020: $2,317,087.78 (21,459)
This candidate didn’t raise much in 2019, and didn’t exactly kick off 2020 with an epic bang either. However, they got to work in the spring (ironic given COVID, but evidently WFH worked), and then saw tremendous growth in the final run-up to the election. A decent chunk of the total raised was support from the state party near the end, but that money would have never come if the earlier money wasn’t raised.
Bottom line — early money is critical for a successful campaign, and the “quarterly” fundraising close-out dates really do matter.