Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton raised $2.5 million by the end of the year.

According to campaign finance reports submitted to the State Board of Elections, the Rutherfordton Democrat raised $145,000 in the final quarter of the year.

Major donors during that period included Carolina Crossroads event coordinator Elizabeth Branham, Greenville attorney Marvin K. Blount III, Chapel Hill developer Michael Cucchiara and former UNC-Wilmington Chancellor Jim Leutze.

The political action committees for BB&T, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, Caremark Rx employees, Dominion, the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians, John Deere, McGuire Woods, and the N.C. Association of Educators.

He also received donations from the campaigns of state Sens. Dan Clodfelter and Tony Rand, retiring Rep. Jim Harrell, Congressman Heath Shuler, among others.

In addition, Dalton received a total of $95,000 from the N.C. Democratic Party.