← All 2026 races
S6NC00373

BROWN, DON Open seat

 ·  NC Senate (Senate)
3.0
Influence Score · 2026
Modestly backed
Non-incumbent — only contributions, independent expenditures, and dark-money exposure are scored. Lobbying, vote alignment, bundle timing, and trade direction require committee assignments and roll-call records, neither of which exist for a non-sitting candidate. Maximum reachable score is about 23, on a challenger-only scale — incumbents are scored 0–100 across all twelve axes, so the two are not directly comparable. See methodology.

Score components

AxisRawNormalized (pts)Coverage
Direct contributions $229K 0.87 2026 cycle, principal committee
Outside spending — direct support $10K — PACs that directly supported this candidate
Outside spending — indirect (OPPOSE against opponents) $2.50M — OPPOSE spending against opponents in the same race, attributed proportionally
Outside spending — OPPOSE against this candidate $0 — PACs that spent to defeat this candidate (not scored on this axis)
Total outside spending in favor $2.51M 2.10 direct + indirect — drives the outside-spending axis
Lobbying exposure — — Requires committee assignment
Vote alignment — — Requires voting record
Contribution timing — money arriving near key votes — — Requires recorded-vote calendar
Dark-money exposure 0.0000 0.00 Disclosed-vs-dark outside spending share
Personal trade direction — — Requires STOCK Act filings

Race matchup  NC Senate

Candidate Party Status Direct $ Outside $ Score Tier
TILLIS, THOM R. SEN. REP Inc. $898K $83K 72.4 Highly exposed
WHATLEY, MICHAEL REP Open $7.58M $8.10M 11.8 Substantially backed
COOPER, ROY DEM Open $17.26M $3.57M 10.5 Substantially backed
NICKEL, WILEY DEM $1.45M $2.50M 7.6 Substantially backed
BROWN, DON REP Open $229K $2.51M 3.0 Modestly backed
NILSSON, ROBERT ANDERS MR REP Open $0 $2.50M 2.1 Lightly backed
DUES, JUSTIN DEM Open $0 $2.50M 2.1 Lightly backed

Challenger and open-seat scores reflect contributions, outside spending, and dark-money exposure only — a maximum of about 23. They are not directly comparable to incumbent scores, which run 0–100 across all twelve axes. Compare the dollar columns (Direct $, Outside $) for a like-for-like view.