1984 NC US Senate Contest: Hunt vs Helms: The Explosive Bombshell that impacted the Tar Heel State

[49ersfootball]

COMING SOON
May 28th, 1984

The nationally-watched NC US Senate election with national implications....
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The NC US Senate election between popular two-term NC Governor James Baxter "Jim" Hunt, Jr., (D) & arch conservative iconic United States Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) was getting nasty, ugly & downright vicious with hard-hitting negative advertising on both sides: Hunt, running controversial commercial spots highlighting Helms' controversial support of the Salvadoran Military dictatorship & the death squads in the war-torn Central American country; Helms using his special diet of race-baiting 24/7 whenever the topics centered around race, the MLK Holiday, etc.,

Some of Helms allies even went so far as to employing racially-charged tactics in discouraging or violently intimidating minority voters, who would show up in droves across the Tar Heel State. The threats even included death threats over telephones with the names & addresses of people.

North Carolinians would have to endure nearly 6 months of ugly hard-hitting campaigning on both sides with twists & turns, where statewide recounts would ensue following Election Night because nobody knew who the winner was. It would drag on non-stop in the weeks afterwards because whenever it was decided, this would have major ramifications for statewide politics in the Tar Heel State in the coming years.



1984 NC US Senate contest: the long wait for a winner

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Subbed.

 

[49ersfootball]

Good Morning Sietch family. Here's an outlined sketch of what the TL will be looking like (which I'll be working on during the 4th of July holiday break)

*Prologue

*(Chapter 1):
*Profile on Jesse Helms
*Profile on James Baxter Hunt, Jr.,
*Profile on Jim Martin
*Profile on Harvey Gantt

*(Chapter 2)
*One night in the outskirts of Charlotte
*The Bennett family's disturbing discovery
*Fallout of the Incident
*Investigation begins
*Eyewitness Accounts

 

[49ersfootball]

Chapter 1: Helms
2:00 PM EST, Saturday, July 21st, 1984
NC Republican Party Convention
Raleigh, NC

"Senator No" with US Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN) during happier times. ​

It was a fiery speech delivered by the hardcore Conservative icon, who was nicknamed "Senator No" for his thumbing down on major pieces of legislation even blocking priorities of presidential administrations. United States Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) was seeking reelection to a third consecutive six-year term to the United States Senate in 1984 against his Democratic challenger, popular two-term NC Governor James Baxter "Jim" Hunt, Jr., (D). Helms attacked on what he perceived as the "liberal interest groups, big government policies and progressive socialist programs" during his fiery speech. He was also determined to scare away Independent voters, swing voters & Anglo voters away from Governor Hunt's campaign.

Among the special diet of Senator Helms was good ole fashioned race-baiting, dog-whistle politics on the usual suspects: Civil Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965; desegregation of public schools, colleges & universities. The crowd was upping the ante for more, more & more fiery rhetoric.

Helms' latest attacks centered on the MLK Holiday & the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., where the Senator blasted King's alleged "action-oriented Marxism" in a 16-day filibuster; the MLK Holiday passed overwhelmingly in bipartisan votes in both houses of Congress & signed into law in November 1983 by President Ronald Reagan). Helms wasn't deterred from this, but instead he doubled-down on using more racially-charged rhetoric & more heinous disgusting tactics to use against Hunt & others. "That uppity liberal Governor thinks he got me outworked, just wait until I unleash Holy Hell on that uppity n****** lover".

The TV advertising commercials were getting nastier & nastier; Helms thrived off of such disgusting political dog-whistle attacks & also relished off of making opponents looking silly.

 

[49ersfootball]

Hunt
5:00 PM EST, Saturday, July 21st, 1984
NC Executive Mansion
Raleigh, NC

Governor Hunt on the campaign trail.
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Despite some slippage in several polling surveys (because of Helms' violent race-baiting & non-stop aggressive negative attacks hammering Hunt), the popular two-term Democratic Governor's prospects of winning the NC US Senate election appeared bright: Hunt highlighted many of his achievements as the Tar Heel State's 69th Governor: appointing more women & minorities, particularly African Americans & Latinos to offices, boards, commissions in state government than any of his predecessors had done. He also appointed the first African American Cabinet Secretary; first African American Court of Appeals Judge; first African American to the NC Supreme Court including appointing the first African American Chief Justice to the NC Supreme Court.

Hunt already had been pushing civil rights long before getting to the NC Executive Mansion. In 1970, as Chairman of the NC Democratic Party's Reform Commission, he expedited a rewrite of the party rules to require more participation by African Americans, women & the youth. He also pushed the NC Democrats in reaching out to minority voters.

Elected as NC's 27th Lieutenant Governor in 1972 during the Nixon landslide (when then-President Richard Nixon was overwhelmingly reelected that year); among those victorious that same year: Jesse Helms winning the NC US Senate & Jim Holshouser's victory in the NC Gubernatorial election making him the Tar Heel State's first Republican Governor since Reconstruction. Hunt began working with Holshouser in a bipartisan way---across political lines--- to pass $300 million bond issue in raising teacher pay (which other US State Governors would push for in later years) & establishing statewide kindergartens. Both Hunt & Holshouser also teamed up to pass the Coastal Area Management Act, which provided for the preservation & management of the 20 coastal counties between SC & VA. He was also a strong advocate for the medical school at East Carolina University. He served as President of the NC State Senate; member of the Council of State; NC Board of Education; NC Capital Planning Commission & NC Board of Community Colleges including serving as chairman of the E-Learning Commission.

Prevented from succeeding himself as Lieutenant Governor, it was inevitable that Hunt would be seeking the Governorship in 1976 & NC Democrats were desperately eager to winning back the Executive Mansion after losing it in 1972. Declaring his candidacy in April 1976 & campaigning on a platform stressing crime prevention, economic development & education, Hunt was easily elected to the Governorship in a massive landslide victory in the November 2nd, 1976 general election defeating Republican opponent David Flaherty: garnering 1,081,293 votes (64.99%) to Flaherty's 564,102 votes (33.90 %), Hunt also carried 96 out of 100 counties. He was inaugurated as the Tar Heel State's 69th Governor on January 8th, 1977.

 

[49ersfootball]

Moved to my personal forum for awhile because I'm too busy working on The Cursed American Presidency TL.
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