N.C. insurance commissioner challenger out-fundraises incumbent 7-to-1

The lone competitive insurance commissioner race in the U.S., in North Carolina, is heating up. 

North Carolina state senator Natasha Marcus is running for state insurance commissioner.

Democratic state senator Natasha Marcus, who is challenging two-term incumbent Republican Mike Causey, announced a fundraising haul for the first half of 2024 that is seven times as much as Causey’s.

According to North Carolina board of elections data, Marcus raised $281,092.66 from 935 donors, many of those being individuals contributing $50 or less.

North Carolina insurance commissioner Mike Causey is running for re-election to a third four-year term.

In the same time period, Causey raised $38,035 from 56 donors. This included $6,400 each from two individual donors and $3,500 from Allstate.

In a press release, Marcus’ campaign stated that Causey “raised insurance rates 16 times.” Luther Snyder, digital director at Pioneer Strategies and a consultant to the Causey campaign, said this is a distortion, because North Carolina has a rate bureau representing insurer that proposes rate increases to the commissioner. Snyder asserted that Causey has negotiated with the bureau each time and did not approve the bureau’s first increase requests. “It’s been far less than what the rate bureau has asked,” Snyder said.

Negotiation with the bureau prevents the need to dispute the increases in the courts either in a trial or administrative hearing, according to Snyder. “It’s not the best use of commission operating costs to have those kinds of hearings,” he said. “That’s just really expensive. Those tax dollars are better spent on things that the state needs, rather than tied up in court.”

Digital Insurance asked several major political polling companies if they had any projections for the N.C. insurance commissioner race. Gallup, Zogby, Siena College Research Institute, Suffolk University and The Harris Poll replied that they had not done any polls on the race.