GREENVILLE – Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy entered the closing stretch of the North Carolina 3rd Congressional District campaign with about $2.4 million in cash on hand, compared with $81,164.67 for Democratic challenger Raymond Smith Jr., according to Federal Election Commission summaries through Sept. 30.
Murphy’s authorized campaign committees reported $2,819,076 in receipts and $1,988,713.51 in disbursements from Jan. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026. The FEC lists his ending cash balance at $2,413,824.78.
Smith’s principal campaign committee reported $343,849.35 in receipts and $262,264.51 in disbursements from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, 2026. Its ending cash balance was $81,164.67.
The figures leave Murphy with about $2.33 million more available than Smith at the end of the reporting period. Cash on hand can be used for advertising, voter outreach, staffing and other campaign expenses, but the balance does not include every form of outside spending for or against a candidate.
The FEC identifies Murphy as the Republican incumbent in District 3. Smith’s committee is active as his principal campaign committee, and his campaign biography describes him as a former educator, combat veteran and two-term state legislator.
The Washington Post included the eastern North Carolina district in an Oct. 22 analysis of Democrats trying to expand the number of Republican-held House seats they could contest. That broader battlefield could force national groups to decide how widely to spread limited money during the final campaign period.
Candidate cash is only one part of the campaign-finance picture. The FEC separately tracks independent expenditures by groups supporting or opposing candidates and notes that those funds are not directly given to or spent by the candidate.
The new FEC summaries measure committee finances through Sept. 30, not current polling or votes. They also cover different start dates because Murphy’s campaign was active before Smith’s current committee began reporting in 2026. The balances show the financial resources each committee reported entering October, not the total value of all campaign activity in the district.
Sources
- The Washington Post: Democrats expand their House map
- Federal Election Commission: Greg Murphy candidate overview
- Federal Election Commission: Raymond Smith for North Carolina committee overview
Photo Credit: Raymond Smith portrait by the North Carolina General Assembly, public domain; Greg Murphy portrait by the U.S. Congress, public domain. Official portraits via Wikimedia Commons.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.