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North Carolina: Perdue, McCrory Win Governor’s Primary; Hagan Gets Senate Nod
By Hastings Wyman
Southern Political Report
May 6, 2008 — Tar Heel Democrats made history in their May 6 primary, choosing Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue (D) as their nominee for governor. If she prevails in the General Election, she will become North Carolina’s first woman governor. Perdue is the early, but not a prohibitive, favorite, over Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R), who won the Republican nomination for governor. Democratic voters also nominated another woman, state Sen. Kay Hagan (D), as the party’s challenger to US Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R). While Dole is favored in November, a Research 2000 poll taken before the primary on April 28-30 showed Dole would defeat Hagan by 48% to 41% in the November election, not close, but not a slam-dunk for incumbent Dole, either. In hotly contested congressional primaries, several embattled incumbents won relatively easy victories. In other districts, the challenging party chose nominees for the General Election. Details, with complete but unofficial returns: Governor With Gov. Mike Easley (D) term-limited, two of the state’s leading Democratic political leaders, Lt. Gov. Perdue and two-term state Treasurer Richard Moore (D) waged a well-financed battle for the party’s gubernatorial nomination. Perdue had 845,698 (56%), Moore had 601,071 (40%) and retired Air Force colonel Dennis Nielsen, a political novice, had 60,653 (4%). Both Perdue and Moore endorsed Barack Obama in an effort to curry favor with African-American voters, but Perdue ran better among black voters, who accounted for about 30% of the Democratic turnout, as well as among other groups, such as teachers’ associations, deemed part of the party’s base. On the Republican side, McCrory won a first-ballot victory over state Sen. Fred Smith (R). With a requirement that the winner must exceed 40% of the vote to avoid a runoff on June 24, McCrory had 233,877 (46%) to Smith’s 186,402 (37%). In addition, Salisbury attorney Bill Graham had 46,800 (9%), former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr 34,104 (7%) and E. Powers 4,451 (1%). McCrory entered the race late, but with his name ID and large following in Charlotte, the state’s largest city, he quickly jumped to the front of the line.
US Senator In the Republican Primary, US Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) overwhelmingly defeated minor candidate Pete Di Lauro, 461,085 (90%) to 51,552 (10%) to win renomination for a second term. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Kay Hagan (D) won an easy victory over investment banker Jim Neal, who is openly gay. Hagan had 811,566 (60%) to Neal’s 242,967 (18%). In addition, Marcus Williams had 170,263 (13%), Duskin Lassiter 61,985 (5%) and Howard Staley 60,232 (4%). Congressional Primaries In the 3rd District (Greenville, etc.), US Rep. Walter Jones (R), under fire from some Republicans for his opposition to the war in Iraq, turned back a significant but poorly financed challenge from County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin. Jones had 22,703 (60%); McLaughlin 15,441 (40%). For the Democrats, former TV meteorologist Craig Weber defeated former Marine Marshall Adame for the right to challenge Jones in November: Weber 51,408 (70%); Adame 22,538 (30%). In the 10th District (Hickory, etc.), where some rank-and-file GOPers still regard US Rep. Patrick McHenry (R), 32, as some kind of youthful upstart, lawyer and conservative Christian Lance Sigmon was unable to shake McHenry’s hold on the district. McHenry lost some points when he called an Iraqi contractor “a two-bit security guard” and neither contender looked good when the district’s former congressman, Cass Ballenger (R), endorsed then unendorsed Sigmon in the closing days of the campaign. McHenry had 34,286 (67%), Sigmon 16,823 (33%). In the fall, McHenry is favored over former prosecutor Daniel Johnson (D), who defeated engineer and businessman Steve Ivester for the Democratic nomination. Johnson had 40,787 (60%), Ivester 26,989 (40%). In the 11th District (Asheville, etc.), where the GOP would like to unseat freshman Democrat Heath Shuler before he gets entrenched, in the Republican Primary Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower won with 19,585 (49%) to former Henderson County GOP chairman Spence Campbell’s 17,232 (42%) and attorney John C. Armor’s 3,918 (10%). |
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