Lawyer Bill Graham entered the Republican primary for North Carolina governor as a deep-pocketed alternative to Mark Robinson – the state’s lieutenant governor, who many Republicans believe is too extreme to win a general election next year.

But Graham may have the opposite problem.

The longtime lawyer’s ability to win the Republican primary is uncertain, primarily because of his recent comments questioning Donald Trump’s legal defenses and Graham’s lack of political donations to Trump, who won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020. Instead, Graham has given thousands to other candidates, some of whom have angered the Republican base for not being close enough to the former president.

The stakes are high in North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper, the incumbent Democrat, is term-limited and his attorney general, Josh Stein, is the likely Democratic nominee. Robinson, who endorsed Trump earlier this year, is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, despite a history of conspiratorial, controversial comments that have already been used against him and will only be amplified in what is likely to be the most expensive gubernatorial race in the nation next year.