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The 1984 United State Senate Election in North Carolina, A Contest between incumbent Conservative Firebrand Senator Jesse Helms, and outgoing governor James Hunt Jr was a grudgematch that was the most expensive non-presidential election at the time.
An Election that was seen as a longtime coming after Hunt won in 1980, Helms started off as the underdog, with Hunt enjoying a comanding lead in the polls throughout 1983. To this effect, Helms had a few big cards that he would play in 1984.
The first was money, he raised $16.9 Million to Hunt's $9.4 Million - most of that coming through his congressional Connections. The second was North Carolina's hostility to northern Liberals (where Hunt got some of his money from).
And the third was Jesse Jackson, whose African American voter registration drive drove a backlash that allowed Helms to register more of his base.
Beyond these, the fact that it was a senatorial contest allowed Helms to Negate one of Hunt's major strength, that he was a popular Execute Branch official. In this sense he used his controvercial nature to his advantage, constantly asking the Moderate Hunt where he stood on issues.
In the End, these factors, plus the fact the campaign turned nasty by the end - allowing for people to return to their partisan camps, and Reagan's 20% victory at the top of the ticket were too much for Governor Hunt to overcome, leading to the reelection of the Controvercial Jesse Helms.
Sources:
- 1986 Edition of the Almanac of American Politics
- 1985 North Carolina Legislative Manual
- Harvard ROAD
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