Beverly Perdue received $7.5 million in donations by mid-April of 2008.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate raised $1.7 million from donors in the first quarter of 2008, according to a report filed with the State Board of Elections.

Major donors included Shelby publisher Douglas Brown, former Disney executive Michael Eisner and Golden Corral CEO Theodore Fowler Jr.

She also raised $49,700 from political action committees, including Abbott Laboratories Employee PAC, the Asheville Anesthesia Associates PAC, the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina and the Communications Workers of America.

In addition, she loaned her campaign $500,000. Her campaign still owes $275,000 in loans from her husband Robert Eaves Jr. from a previous election.

In the first quarter of the year, Perdue spent $5.9 million on TV ads, polling, office expenses and consulting, leaving her with $938,400 in cash on hand at the end of the reporting period.