Beverly Perdue says the state should fund embryonic stem cell research.

After Tuesday night's debte, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate spoke to reporters briefly about her views in light of a set of recent TV ads on the issue.

One version of the ad features primary lateral sclerosis sufferer Sarah Witt saying that Republican Pat McCrory is "against hope" for opposing the research.

Perdue said that she came to support it after reading up on the issue and talking with scientists and a friend from Morehead City whose son is a quadriplegic. She noted that the stem cells come from fertilized eggs leftover from in vitro fertilization clinics.

"You know, these stem cells are donated by families," she said. "Otherwise they'd be discarded. I mean, they're there, and it just seems to me — and to Nancy Reagan and to John McCain — that it's a really good use for science if the family agrees to do it voluntarily."

She said she would support spending between $8 million and $10 million on research, with the money coming from the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which is funded by the state's tobacco settlement.

Perdue said she and her husband, Bob, will walk Sunday in the Magnificent Mile, a benefit started by Witt, a former marathoner.

"She's trying to raise money, and I'm going to help her do that," she said. 

Beverly Perdue is attacking Pat McCrory on stem cell research.

In the ads, Sarah Witt of Raleigh says that she hopes stem cell research will help her recover from paralysis. In one version, she says that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's support of research gives her hope. In a second version, she criticizes McCrory's stance.

"When I hear politicians like Pat McCrory say he wants to ban embryonic stem cell research, I ask myself, how can he be against hope?"

Witt is a magazine reporter and avid marathon runner who developed primary lateral sclerosis in 2004, a disease similar to Lou Gehrig's disease. She helped start the Magnificent Mile, a one-mile race in support of research into a cure.

The ad ends with text that says "Pat McCrory: More extreme than you think."

In a press release, McCrory said he supports adult and amniotic stem cell research.

"My mother had Alzheimer’s and I watched her struggle with the disease for ten years," he said in a statement. "That’s why I support stem cell research at places like Wake Forest University. These scientists offer us hope that one day, families won’t have to suffer as my family has."

Adult and amniotic stem cells do not come from destroyed human embryos.