Posted on 09/11/2002 11:57:17 AM PDT by Jomini
State Sen. Frank Ballance won the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating three other candidates seeking to succeed U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton.
Ballance, an 18-year veteran of the General Assembly and No. 2 leader in the state Senate, had the endorsement of Clayton, the first black woman elected to Congress from North Carolina.
Ballance saw that endorsement critical.
"It was tremendously important," the Warrenton lawyer said. "I said all along that I wouldn't have been in the race if she had supported any of the other three candidates. Anyone that doesn't know that hasn't been around politics very long."
He cited two other factors.
"One was my experience," Ballance said. "When people come down to making decisions, they come back to experience, and my 18 years of service really helped me there. The second is we worked for this nomination. We did it the old-fashioned way and almost went door to door."
With 83 percent of the precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Ballance receiving 29,308 votes, or 44 percent, followed by Pasquotank County Commissioner Sam Davis at 17,455 votes (26 percent).
Former U.S. Attorney Janice McKenzie Cole received 12,754 votes, or 19 percent, and Wilson County school board Chairwoman Christine Fitch had 6,681 votes, or 10 percent.
As expected, Ballance gained heavily in the Tri-County area. In Granville, he had 1,052 votes, or 59 percent of the total, and in his native Warren he had 2,727 votes, or 69.9 percent. In Vance, Ballance took 61.2 percent, or 1,897 votes.
Davis came in second in the three counties, with 508 votes in Granville, 826 in Vance and 661 in Warren.
After claiming victory, Ballance reflected on the win.
"We wonder sometimes why we do this," he said. "I know why I do, because someone has to, and it might as well be someone that has the people's best interests in mind."
The district stretches 150 miles west to east, from Oxford to Elizabeth City. It then winds south through portions of Wilson, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro and Greenville on the way to Havelock.
Democrats in the sprawling 1st District outnumber Republicans by a ratio of 4-to-1, and blacks make up 50.7 percent of the population.
Ballance will face Republican Greg Dority of Washington and Libertarian Mike Ruff of Greenville in the Nov. 5 general election.
Despite the party registration disparity, Dority expressed confidence late Tuesday.
"I'm excited about running against Sen. Ballance," Dority said. "This race represents a classic matchup of liberal vs. conservative in a time of economic decline and impending war."
He challenged Ballance to debate him on those and other issues of the day.
Dority was somewhat surprised that Ballance, the early favorite in the district, won the delayed primary. He said the weather was crucial: Heavy rain fell on the eastern districts, where Cole was strongest.
Before accepting any challenge from Dority, Ballance has to get back to the state Senate.
"I am going to Raleigh in the morning to work on the Senate budget," Ballance said. "I've got to get right back into things. After that, I'll take a few days off and then get ready for the fall."
His Defense Component Manufacturing program scoring with eastern North Carolina voters as he describes how the First District will become involved in low-tech blue collar manufacturing to support the emerging new American war structures.
Ballance has taken a firm stand against American involvement versus Iraq and has labeled President Bush as a "dangerous cowboy." Combined with his previous support of retiring Eva Clayton's anti-Israel positions, he makes both a very poor foreign policy student and subsequent advocate for eastern North Carolina.
Dority must continue to emphasize his pro-American message and clearly demonstrate the danger liberal Frank Ballance represents to the people of the First District. This race destined to become quite tight and will see very low turnout in November after Black state Senate and House candidates facing GOP fall opposition were wiped out in the East last night.
Albanianism is, as Albanianism does...
J
This will make Greg's election that much more difficult.
Best of luck to Mr. Dority though!
Forces of freedom on the march! Washington, DC trembles!
I wish you the best.
CD
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