(Note: these learning modules encompass the
actual class lectures, and are designed for those students who have to miss
class through no fault of their own, and also as a refresher for all students.
Bold print in the notes are what the professor writes on the board.)
North Carolina is another interesting state, as it is much
more politically competitive today, having a Democratic governor and U.S.
Senate elections that are nearly always fairly close. In the modern South where
Republicans have become so politically dominant, Democrats can learn from at
least two public officials who dominated state politics for decades. They can
learn from an ideologically divisive conservative Republican Senator Jesse
Helms who also stressed his constituency service work, and from an ideologically
inclusive moderate Governor James Hunt. These two figures so dominated the
politics of North Carolina that one scholar from the state really concentrated
on them. They both provide valuable lessons, so this material is also likely to
be on the final exam.
Jesse
Helms gained name recognition as an outspoken and consistently
conservative radio and television commentator. Throughout his career he and
his supporters were accused of playing the race card to stay in office, and he
was never popular enough to win over 55% of the vote. So how did this guy ever
get elected in the first place? Well, in 1972 a more liberal
Democratic congressman of Greek ancestry knocked off the aging moderate
conservative Democratic incumbent Senator. Republican Helms proceeded to
trumpet his conservative positions on low taxes, fewer government regulations
on business, support for defense spending, and opposition to forced school
busing and to communism. He also blasted his more liberal opponent for
being a big spender who was soft on drugs and favored amnesty
for Vietnam draft evaders. In a year when Nixon was winning re-election
with 71% of the state’s vote, Helms won a 54% victory. He also was accused of
playing the race card with a campaign slogan of He’s One of Us, subtly
reminding voters of his opponent’s Greek heritage.
Helms won
re-election in 1978 after a Democratic liberal knocked off the
more moderate son of a former Democratic governor. Helms won Christian
evangelicals who liked his opposition to abortion, blue-collar voters
liked his pro-gun stance, and other voters liked his small-town values
of fiscal responsibility and support for the state’s textile and
tobacco industries. He reportedly had a great constituency service
operation that helped thousands of residents.
Helms
squeaked by in 1984 against popular governor Jim Hunt. In a year when Reagan
was winning re-election with a 62% margin in the state, Helms painted his
Democratic opponent as a tax-and-spend Mondale liberal who favored gay
rights, abortion, unions, and feminist issues. Hunt as governor had supported
state funding of abortions for low-income women. On racial issues,
Helms had voted against a federal Martin Luther King holiday, while Governor
Hunt had met with liberal civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. Helms did have a
personal touch when meeting with constituents, as he appeared folksy, a
gentleman, and had a touch of humor. Campaigning, he stressed his Senate
seniority and his support for the state’s agriculture industry.
Helms won the
1990 and 1996 elections pretty narrowly, as he faced another strong
opponent, Harvey Gantt. Gantt was an MIT trained architect, the first African
American Clemson graduate, and the two-term mayor of majority white
Charlotte. Gantt did have some liberal positions on controversial
issues, being pro-choice and anti-death penalty. Helms blasted his backing by gay
and lesbian groups, and played the race card by accusing the Democrat of
benefitting from his minority status to get a television station license. Helms
ran an inflammatory ad that showed a white losing a job to an African American
merely because of a racial quota. After losing this
ideologically-oriented campaign, Gantt in 1996 stressed his traditional values
by backing classroom discipline, welfare reform, and toughness on violent
criminals, but Helms still couldn’t resist attacking him for supporting some
gay rights issues. The Helms campaign largely focused on constituency
service issues, though, as he ran ads specific to each of the state’s media
markets that recounted how he had brought federal help and money into
each major city. He also reminded voters of his seniority, being chair of the
important Foreign Relations Committee. Unfortunately, his supporters
played the race card, as the Christian Coalition distributed a voter guide that
darkened Gantt’s face and accused him of supporting gay rights.
While the
Jesse Helms story shows how Republicans can win by finding evidence of
liberalism on the part of their Democratic opponents, the James Hunt
story shows how Democrats can assemble an ideologically diverse coalition by
taking ideologically different positions on popular issues. Hunt won four terms
as North Carolina governor with landslide wins in the 60% in the 1980s and
respectable wins in the 50% range in the 1990s. Hunt lived traditional
values, as he had worked long hours on the family farm, and
he didn’t use alcohol or tobacco. His father had worked for the
U.S. Agriculture Department in the 1930s under FDR, so he viewed
Democrats as the party of poor farmers and workers.
Hunt won
landslides in his first two gubernatorial elections in 1976 and 1980. A
racial liberal, his speeches urged racial harmony and he appointed
African Americans to important state positions including judgeships. He
also backed the Equal Rights Amendment for women. But he also was tough
on crime, and refused to pardon the Wilmington Ten, civil rights
activists convicted of a 1971 firebombing. Everyone applauded his economic
development programs, which resulted in more highway construction
and the recruitment of high wage jobs. He also improved public
education by reducing class sizes and increasing high school graduation
standards.
Hunt had
closer elections in 1992 and 1996, as Republicans in 1992 offered a
candidate with a stronger resume (their first statewide officer, a lieutenant governor),
though the GOP nominee in 1996 was viewed as too conservative by attacking
Planned Parenthood. In his 3rd and 4th terms as governor,
Hunt again was very pro-education, enacting increased education funding,
a pre-school Smart Start program, and an Excellent Schools Act
that raised teacher pay significantly and provided even higher salaries
for teachers having a master’s degree. Conservatives liked his placing failing
schools under state control with the principals fired. Legislative
Republicans who had gained control of the state house in 1994 played into his
hands by opposing teacher pay and school construction funding bills, which just
showed that Hunt and Democrats were the more pro-education party. Hunt
continued to stress economic development, expanding use of tax credits to
lure new businesses to all areas of the state. After the 1994 GOP national
landslide, Hunt and his Democratic allies (like Clinton) moved to the right and
enacted welfare reform, a large tax cut, and punitive anti-crime
measures.
Some liberals nationally today
criticize Jim Hunt as being too conservative, but his ideological pragmatism
and diversity made him the longest serving governor in North Carolina’s
history- four terms in office. Also, his Democratic Party has been able to
retain the governorship since he left office at the turn of the century with
only one exception, a Republican governor who in 2016 was beaten after the GOP
governor backed a “bathroom bill” that prevented local governments from
permitting their residents to use public restrooms reflecting their gender
identity. Democrat Roy Cooper was the four-term attorney general at the
time, and he called the bill a national disgrace and refused to defend it in court.
As businesses boycotted the state and polls showed 65% of residents opposing
the bill, Cooper unseated the Republican governor in a close election, and was
then reelected in 2020. The losing GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2020,
Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, campaigned on a quicker reopening of businesses
and schools, but polls showed public approval of how the Democratic governor
was handling COVID-19, and for requiring masks in public. Cooper also
campaigned on state issues such as raising teacher pay and expanding Medicaid,
and explained that his veto of a measure requiring that the undocumented be
turned over to federal agents was because he believed that it would just cost
the state money in defending an unconstitutional measure. Cooper was succeeded
in 2024 by two-term Democratic attorney general Josh Stein, who stressed
putting the people of North Carolina first, being tough on rape, and fighting
addiction. The losing Republican candidate, African American Lieutenant
Governor Mark Robinson was hurt by his blunt conservative statements on social
issues, such as attacking
the classroom teaching of "transgenderism, homosexuality- any of that
filth," and describing abortion as "killing the child because you
weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down" (Specht, Paul,
September 10, 2024. "Stein, boosted by conservatives, carries wider lead
against Robinson in race for NC governor, WRAL News Poll shows.").
Modern Senate elections show that
North Carolina is a very competitive state with exit polls showing both parties
having only slight leads among party identifiers since 2010. So, in such a
competitive state, it is important to come up with good candidates- people who
are personally appealing. Republicans did that with Elizabeth Dole in
2002, a Duke University graduate who had a folksy tone when campaigning, and
was sensitive to the special economic needs of the state. Libby also was the wife of presidential candidate Bob Dole, and
had served as both Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Labor in the
federal government. Libby herself was knocked out in 2008 by Democrat Kay
Hagan, a working mom who carpooled her kids to soccer practice. A 10-year
state senate veteran, Hagan was regarded as one of the state’s most effective
legislators, prompting former governor Jim Hunt to contrast her with Dole’s
do-nothing accomplishments in Washington. A hilarious national Democratic ad
took a swipe at Dole’s age of 72 by having two elderly men in rocking chairs
talking about her 92 or 93 ratings in legislative ineffectiveness and in
support for President Bush. Dole tried to paint Hagan as a liberal for
accepting “Godless” campaign money from a secular group, but the attack didn’t
stick, since Hagan was a Presbyterian elder and a Sunday school teacher. The
Senate seat switched back to the Republicans in 2014 as businessman and state
house speaker Thom Tillis beat Hagan by blasting her support for
President Obama. Tillis’ cliff-hanger victory was the closest senate race in
the state in 34 years. Tillis won reelection in 2020 as a big Trump supporter
(he attended a White House event for Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett),
defeating retired military veteran Cal Cunningham who had limited his campaign
appearances after apologizing for marital infidelity.
The other senate seat had changed partisan hands four times
with one-term officeholders until finally settling on Republican Congressman Richard
Burr, who became a three-term senator. Burr was initially elected Senator in
2004 with strong personal attributes. He was a college football-playing son of
a Presbyterian minister, who drove himself around when campaigning, and showed
a common touch by working blue-collar jobs during the campaign. In the House
and Senate, he fought for the state’s tobacco farmers and for its medical and
drug industries. Burr won re-election in 2010 with a massive campaign war chest
and a blitz of positive, feel-good ads (like Trent Lott), as the national
Democratic Party desperately diverted its campaign money into other states
where it had vulnerable incumbents (sound familiar?). Burr won re-election in
2016 with 53% of the two-party vote because the Democratic lady (though having
a good resume of ten years of state legislative experience) had little name
visibility, was backed by various liberal political groups, and was blasted by
Burr for directing the state’s liberal ACLU chapter. Republicans retained the
seat in 2022 with Trump-endorsed Congressman Ted Budd, who beat Democrat
Cheri Beasley, an African American woman and former Chief Justice of the state
Supreme Court, who actively campaigned even in small towns and rural areas and
stressed North Carolina needs over blind partisanship. Budd won a close race
because Republicans outnumbered Democrats among voters, and because he had
focused on economic issues and high inflation under President Biden.