State Political Profile: North Carolina
U.S. House
Democrats are hoping to reverse Republicans' 7-6 edge in North Carolina's congressional delegation this fall by picking off a GOP seat.
Their best hope is in the state's western mountains, where the local and national parties believe moderate former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler gives them their best chance in years of ousting GOP Rep. Charles Taylor from the 11th District seat he has held since 1990.
Taylor, a timber magnate and one of the wealthiest members of Congress, has rarely campaigned actively in recent elections and has generally faced Democrats from the liberal urban enclave of Asheville who do not play well in the conservative counties that make up the rest of the district.
Shuler, a Swain County native and University of Tennessee star, could change that dynamic, with his opposition to abortion and support of gun rights. A novice campaigner, Shuler has been a strong fundraiser so far.
He also has strong backing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has blasted Taylor for blocking federal funding for a memorial to victims of United Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, and for his connections to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Taylor has proved resilient in the face of past ethics issues and has a deep and loyal constituency in the district.
What initially looked to be another competitive race, in the textile-heavy 8th District, took a blow when the best-known Democratic contender dropped out before the primary. Incumbent Republican Robin Hayes, seeking a fifth term, will now face Larry Kissell, a social studies teacher from Montgomery County and a former textile worker.
Democrat Tim Dunn, a Fayetteville lawyer and Iraq veteran, had been expected to mount a serious challenge to Hayes but lagged in fund-raising and dropped out mid-March. That leaves Kisell, with his grass-roots campaign, as the challenger to Hayes, who has hundreds of thousands of dollars bankrolled for his campaign.
Democrats have criticized Hayes for casting the deciding vote last summer that secured House passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. With the White House-backed deal facing defeat, Hayes who for weeks had said he was absolutely opposed to the deal because of the damage it would do to the state's struggling textile industry switched his vote to yes at the last moment.
No other seats are expected to change hands, but the 13th District race is expected to feature fireworks. Republican Vernon Robinson, a former conservative city councilman from Winston-Salem who has referred to himself as "the black Jesse Helms," won the GOP primary to challenge Democrat Brad Miller despite not living in the district. Before filing for the 13th District seat, Robinson contemplated a challenge to 12th District Rep. Mel Watt, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Two years ago, Robinson ran a harsh campaign for the GOP nomination to the open 5th District seat.
Legislature
Democrats hope to keep their hold on both houses of the Legislature, and a well-run campaign machine combined with the prolific fundraising of House Speaker Jim Black and Senate leader Marc Basnight could go a long way toward their success. Democrats have a 63-57 advantage in the House and 29-21 margin in the Senate.
In the May 2 primary, conservative Republicans won the upper hand in their battle with the party's moderate wing, ousting House Speaker Pro Tempore Richard Morgan, who was widely reviled by conservatives for his power-sharing arrangement with Black. Another Morgan ally also lost in the primary, in which five General Assembly incumbents lost their seats. A sixth was still protesting his apparent loss as of May 23.
While Republicans fight among themselves, Democrats have their own problems Black's office has provided more than 2,000 pages of documents to a federal grand jury investigating video poker and the recent creation of a state lottery.
Black, a Charlotte-area optometrist, has been the leading recipient of campaign donations from the video poker industry and last year helped push the lottery through the General Assembly.
No one has formally accused Black of wrongdoing, although his former political aide was charged May 22 with violating state lobbying laws. The lottery debuted in March to strong initial sales of scratch-off tickets, but has since seen sales fall short of targets set by the state.
Other State Races
The only statewide races this year will be for seats on the state's appellate courts. While the races are officially nonpartisan, the appellate court judges chosen in the primary to run for the state Supreme Court spot vacated by Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake's retirement are from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Robin Hudson was backed by three former Democratic Supreme Court chief justices while the state Republican Party endorsed Anne Marie Calabria.
Republicans currently hold the majority of seats on the seven-member Supreme Court, which is the state's top appellate court.
-- Associated Press
