Advertisement

Ex-Charlotte Mayor to Contest Helms in N.C.

Share
From Associated Press

North Carolina Democrats gave Harvey Gantt, the black former mayor of Charlotte, a strong send-off into a Senate challenge to conservative Republican Jesse Helms.

Regarded as the underdog in the Democratic primary runoff, Gantt picked up 57% of the vote to roll over prosecutor Mike Easley.

“You’re talking about a newly awakened voter in North Carolina,” national Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown said. “You’re talking about a candidate who has touched some chords there.”

Advertisement

Incumbents were uniformly successful on Tuesday in primaries in nine states, including seven senators, four governors and all House members who sought renomination.

One race that remained to be decided was in Alabama, where teachers union official Paul Hubbert and Atty. Gen. Don Siegelman will clash in a June 26 runoff for the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican Gov. Guy Hunt.

Gantt will be up against a conservative senator with one of the nation’s most successful fund-raising networks. Helms spent $17 million on his 1984 reelection campaign.

At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., Gantt challenged Helms to join him in joint appearances at every courthouse in the state to campaign “the old-fashioned way.”

“I hope we don’t get into those obscene amounts of money we saw in 1984,” the Democratic candidate said.

Gantt lost no time focusing on the issues he believed will work against Helms--education, the environment and abortion.

Advertisement

“We have a senator in Washington who just hasn’t been paying attention, who hasn’t been paying attention to the problem of our young people’s education in this state,” Gantt said.

Gantt drew a clear contrast to Helms’ opposition to abortion. “It’s not the business of government to interfere with a woman’s right to choose,” he said, staking out a position parallel to that taken last year by fellow Democrat L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia when he became the first black elected governor of any state.

Advertisement