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The State Board of Elections on Friday wrapped up an investigation into Pat McCrory’s 2008 gubernatorial campaign by referring five campaign donors for possible prosecution, including four members of a Charlotte family.

Elections official Kim Strach told the board that Kenneth Gill, president of CPI Security, may have reimbursed three members of his family and an employee for donations to McCrory’s campaign. Giving in the name of another, or so-called “straw donors,” is illegal under North Carolina law. The case was referred to Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray. Read more here.

With the primary days away, many other political stories are in the headlines:

--The first week of early voting set a record -- surpassing even the heated 2008 Democratic primary election. Read more about the numbers here.

--Five GOP candidates are vying for the state superintendent nomination. Here's a primer on the race.

--The Republican race for lieutenant governor is all about big ideas outside the bounds of the office's muted power -- and a desire for a partisan takeover of the state's top two posts.

Jim Neal is not the first openly gay man to seek the U.S. Senate from North Carolina.

In 2001, former Superior Court Judge Ray Warren ran for the Democratic nomination for the open seat now held by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

He later dropped out and ran for the nomination for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes.

Warren, a former intern for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and two-term state legislator, was once a rising star in the Republican Party. In 1998, he announced he was gay, and shortly afterward he switched to the Democratic Party.

Warren now lives in Virginia, where he advocates for the reform of marijuana laws and against a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

If he won the nomination and the race, Neal would be the first openly gay U.S. senator, however.