Edmunds receiving rescue funds

Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds is receiving rescue funds from the state.

Under the state's public campaign finance program for judges, candidates can receive extra money if they are facing an independent expenditure.

Campaign Manager Andrew Brown said he received an e-mail at 2:45 p.m. from the State Board of Elections notifying him that Edmunds would receive $12,883 in rescue funds.

He said a staffer with the board of elections told him several other campaigns were also receiving money, but he did not know who was behind the independent expenditure.

North Carolina judicial races are nonpartisan, but the state Democratic and Republican parties often include their preferred candidates in mailers and other advertising.

Edmunds, a Republican, faces Democrat Suzanne Reynolds. He is the only Supreme Court justice up for re-election this year.

Update: According to the board of elections, the state Democratic Party has spent $12,883 on advertisements for Reynolds and Court of Appeals candiadtes Mark Martin, Jim Wynn, Sam Ervin, Kristin Ruth, Linda Stephens, Cheri Beasley and John Arrowood in black newspapers around the state. That spending triggered the rescue funds for Edmunds and other candidates.