A 26-year-old Trump-backed congressional candidate appears to be fueling his campaign with trust-fund money

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A 26-year-old Trump-backed congressional candidate appears to be fueling his campaign with trust-fund money
Bo Hines, a Republican who is running for Congress, speaks before a rally for former President Donald Trump at The Farm at 95 on April 9, 2022 in Selma, North Carolina.Allison Joyce/Getty Images
  • Bo Hines, a congressional candidate from North Carolina, is self-funding the majority of his campaign, according to the FEC.
  • Hines' recent financial disclosure shows that all of his money comes from a trust fund.
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Bo Hines, a Republican congressional hopeful in North Carolina, recently revealed that the majority of his campaign money appears to have come from his own trust fund.

As a young candidate without much political experience, Hines is self-funding the majority of his campaign. According to the Federal Election Commission, he's loaned just over $775,000 of his own money to the campaign, or about 58% of his entire campaign war chest.

But in a personal financial disclosure first noted by Axios' Lachlan Markay, Hines lists having no job, no bank account, no other earned income or compensation, and zero loans or liabilities.

The sole asset he reported owning was his share of the "Hines Children's Trust." The filing reveals that Hines withdrew up to $1 million from the trust in 2022 and up to $100,000 in 2021.

While it's not uncommon for congressional candidates to self-fund, Hines' trust fund-to-campaign pipeline is rare.

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Hines, a former college football player-turned-law school graduate, boasts on his campaign website that he's "always been a hard worker" and a "fighter through-and-through."

Hines' campaign did not respond to Insider's inquiries.

Hines is running for Congress in North Carolina's 13th Congressional District with former President Donald Trump's endorsement. After winning the Republican primary in mid-May, he'll face off against Democrat Wiley Nickel in the general election come November.

The race has the potential to be a close one, as Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates the race as a "toss-up."

If elected, Hines, 26, would become the nation's youngest member of Congress after Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his primary election in May.

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