There’s a rematch coming in the 3rd congressional district. Because the 3rd is strongly Republican-leaning, the real fight is going to be in the primary between incumbent Congressman Walter Jones and challenger Taylor Griffin.

Griffin lost a close one two years ago. At one point on Election Night he was actually leading the incumbent. In the end, he lost by 6 points. Money is pouring into the district and the result in March promises to be close once again.

What’s driving the competitiveness? It has everything to do with Walter Jones, who has held the seat since the Republican Revolution of 1994. Jones marches to the beat of his own drummer and his voting record reflects that. To some, Jones is a hero who consistently bucks the GOP establishment, standing for principle over party. To others, including Mr. Griffin, Jones is an erratic and ineffective member who has outstayed his welcome and needs to be sent home.

Jones is perhaps best-known nationally for his role in the “freedom fries” brouhaha during the lead-up to the Iraq War. Several years later, however, Jones turned sharply against the war, becoming an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush and his handling of the Iraq situation.

Most recently, he received national attention with his “misdeeds” letter, calling for candidates for Speaker to withdraw if there was anything in their past that might embarrass the party. Shortly thereafter, the leading candidate, Kevin McCarthy, dropped out of the race and Paul Ryan was elected Speaker – but not with Jones’ support. Jones was a critic of the Republican leadership under John Boehner and in return was stripped of committee assignments. It looks like Jones will continue to be a “skeptic” now that Paul Ryan is in charge.

Supporters of Griffin say that the 3rd district (consisting of Eastern North Carolina, including nearly all of the state’s coast) deserves an effective member of Congress, not a mere gadfly. And Griffin certainly has the background to be effective: he served as a staffer for U.S. Senator Jesse Helms and later worked in the Bush White House.

For Griffin, Helms’ service is illustrative that those in government can stick to their principles while also being effective, an example he plans to emulate should he make it to Congress. Griffin says he’s the kind of person who can stand on principle while also getting things done, and the 3rd district needs someone who will be more than just a protest vote. He points to issues specific to Eastern North Carolina as an example of why the district needs an effective representation – issues like matters affecting the coast and the large veteran population.

He bristles at the suggestion by the Jones campaign that he’s the establishment candidate, saying that Jones’ depiction of him as a Washington insider who parachuted into Eastern North Carolina from Washington just isn’t credible. He notes that he grew up in Wilson and his father worked 30 years in Farmville (the hometown of Rep. Jones) and that his ties to the district are strong. And he asks why Jones feels the need to resort to negative personal attacks instead of running on his record. In Griffin’s view, the answer is that Jones’ record hasn’t laid the foundation for a positive campaign.

As mentioned before, Jones voted against Paul Ryan for Speaker. Griffin says Republicans are better off taking the fight to Obama than fighting among themselves, and would have supported Ryan for Speaker as the best of the available options. He adds that he doesn’t always agree with Ryan, and that his loyalty will always be to the 3rd district, and cites Rep. Mark Meadows as a conservative stalwart who eventually came around to the Ryan candidacy.

When it comes to who should be the 2016 GOP presidential nominee, one candidate has backed a horse while another is keeping an open mind. Rep. Jones endorsed Rand Paul for president back in April, a fitting choice given that Paul is also “a different kind of Republican.” As for Mr. Griffin, he is still waiting to see how the race shakes out.

In a fight against a Republican with unorthodox positions on foreign policy, Griffin would probably benefit from a campaign environment dominated by concerns about terrorism and national security. With the Paris attacks of last week, it looks like things could be shaping up in that direction. Notably, Rep. Jones was the only Republican who voted against the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, a bill sponsored by yet another House Republican from North Carolina, Rep. Richard Hudson. Jones certainly doesn’t support Syrian refugees in the United States – he wants to defund the refugee program entirely and tweeted that the House’s action amounted to nothing more than a “show vote.”

One thing’s for sure: this will be far from your traditional “conservative challenger goes up against moderate establishment incumbent” primary. What we have instead is a unique race which will probably be less about Taylor Griffin and more about Walter Jones – and whether or not the Jones name, and his anti-establishment persona, will carry the day despite unconventional views on foreign policy and an alleged lack of effectiveness in Congress.

4 Comments

  1. Adam

    Wynn is clearly doing stenography for the Griffin campaign. The entire article was little more than his re-printing Griffin’s talking points.

    I suspect Jones will win this one again. The people of the district know him and like him, as shown by his being re-elected repeatedly in the years since he turned against the Iraq War. Taylor, by contrast, has lost once already, and so already has the loser stink on him.

    If there’s anyone between the two of these who should be representing the Third District’s veterans, it’s the guy who once remarked that Lyndon Johnson is rotting in hell because of his role in expanding the Vietnam War, and he’d better make room for Dick Cheney.

  2. TY Thompson

    Wilson is hardly in the 3rd District, which supports the carpetbagger narrative. If Griffin wants to primary an incumbent Republican, he could more credibly challenge George Holding whose 13th District DOES include part of Wilson.

  3. Apply Liberally

    Ha!……..LOL!…….You can be hysterically funny sometimes, Mr. Wynne.

    “And Griffin certainly has the background to be effective: he served as a staffer for U.S. Senator Jesse Helms and later worked in the Bush White House.”

    Really?? “…..background to be effective…”!??

    Effective at what? Regressive, intolerant, laughingstock, misleading and partisan representation?

    ROFLMAO!

    • Ebrun

      A.L., you best chill out and try to ignore Republican primary campaigns. Apparently, they can adversely effect a liberal’s mental health.

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