When running for US Senate in a swing state the size of North Carolina, especially against an incumbent, there’s an entrance fee. It may not be fair and it may signal problems with the current political system, but it’s a reality. The only candidate who paid it is Deborah Ross.
Ross raised almost $600,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. In Washington world, that’s just enough to prove viability. Campaigns that cost north of $25 million are national affairs. There’s not enough money in North Carolina to fund those races. The only way donors in California, Boston, New York, Chicago, etc. are going to take a candidate from North Carolina seriously is if they see big money in the bank. In fundraising, money begets money.
Ross also has the most experience of any of the other candidates. She served in the state House for years and became one of former House Speaker Joe Hackney’s chief lieutenants. She served as executive director of the ACLU, giving a her a close look at the ideological fights and courtroom battles over first amendment rights. That translates into understanding a lot of similar battles brewing today. Finally, as General Counsel for GoTriangle, she learned the intricacies of transportation issues facing the state and nation as well as understanding how local and regional partnerships work. There’s little doubt that she would be a competent US Senator.
Her chief opponents are Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey and businessman Kevin Griffin. Both men are smart and capable communicators. However, both need more experience and neither has built the infrastructure necessary to take on Richard Burr. They should stay involved and look for opportunities to serve because North Carolina needs thoughtful people like them in the process. They would benefit from broader networks and a better understanding of the political process.
Ernest Reeves is also running for the nomination. However, I don’t know anything about him.
I’m voting for Deborah Ross. She’s the best chance we have for beating Richard Burr.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
After meeting Mrs Ross it became apparent she has no idea how to connect with Rural NC. Urbanization is great but a lot of support in this state comes from Rural NC. If her credentials come out in the race she will alienate blue dogs. Richard Burr can essentially outspend any democratic candidate, unless Hilary and the DNC pour a pile of money into the state. If Trump is the nominee every redneck in NC will be at the polls and that is a contingency she cannot win.
Short of some sort of Burr collapse she has no chance. RCP has Burr at +9, and all polls range from +4 to +11. She won’t come close to matching his money and the presidential race won’t help her. Hillary is the inevitable Dem nominee, and not a widely popular candidate in NC.
+9 is not insurmountable and a lot can happen in six months. Burr isn’t popular with a chunk of his own Party, but she HAS to sell popular ideas that across-the-spectrum voters can get behind. We’ve seen some horror stories here in NC about civil forfeiture laws, she could champion that, for example. Then there’s Burr’s constant efforts to undermine the privacy of Americans with surveillance laws. She could get a lot of cross-over voters with that. But she has to be imaginative and just push platitudes if she wants to win.
NOT just push platitudes, that is.
She’s the wrong color for this race. We need a purple candidate in a purple state to pick off conserva-Dems and a few Rep voters who are begging for an excuse to dump Burr. If “moderate” Kay Hagan hadn’t turned of the Unaffiliateds with her Obamacare vote, she’d be back in DC right now, and she very nearly beat Tillis despite that.
Hagan lost (as did many others in 2014) by running as “Republican Lite” in a mid-term year where turnout made attendance at Hurricanes games look healthy. It’s sad, but true that in non-presidential years, D voter turnout is depressed, and Hagan didn’t help her case by trying to distance herself from the rest of the party in general and Obama in particular. She probably turned off more Democrats than she did Unaffiliateds (speaking as an UNA, I now of at least one “I” vote she got).
She’s not running to be a campaigner. Here’s a question I have always wanted to ask Deborah: You got elected to the NC House and then left when you were in the minority. If you get elected to the US Senate, you’ll also be in the minority. What makes you think you will be effective in the US Senate if you cut and run at the state office level like so many of our other top-level Dems?
Chris, as you no doubt know, Deborah was double-bunked with Grier Martin after 2010 elections and republican gerrymandering. She didn’t cut and run…Stop trying to make up controversy to attack. If you aren’t supporting her in the primary, fine but focus on propping up your candidate of choice.
Nonsense. Being double-bunker for 2012 had nothing to do with it. Grier chose not to run for re-election in 2012 after redistricting placed him in the same district with Deborah Ross. She ran for office and won re-election in 2012 – but the resigned the seat in 2013. Clearly being double-bunked had NOTHING to do with it. So the question still stands. And frankly I’m tired of seeing people run for office and not fill out their term whether it’s for a party office at any level, city council or mayor, to say nothing of the state legislature. Perhaps if we paid them a real salary former majority members would stick around when they become part of the minority – something I hope happens to Republicans really soon. But knowing who gets hired to run these campaigns and work for the party – I’m not holding my breath. so the original question still stands: will Debirah still be able to serve out a full term while being a minority member of the US Senate?
I had the pleasure of serving in the House with Deborah. She is highly qualified and an excellent campaigner, she knows the issues and she knows the people. I’m with her 100%.
Thomas, As a Democratic candidate yourself for public office, you would do well to refrain from endorsing another Democratic candidate in the primary. Will you endorse Hillary at the expense of alienating Bernie’s supporters? What will you then do if Hillary does not win due to the Justice Department investigation wherein her email manager has just been granted immunity, or if Bernie surges in the West Coast and other populous areas? Deborah Ross is indeed the front runner in the referenced primary, and appears to be well qualified. But I am also personally impressed by Chris Rey. What do you think your chances will be of riding on Chris’ coattails if he should win the primary?
Tom, you are right. It’s the same advice I tell all of my candidates. That said, I’m going to continue to do it. I’m a blogger as well as a candidate. I made a decision that I’m going to say what I think throughout the election cycle. I may have to make amends after the primary but I’ll do so. I know almost everybody running and feel confident we get together after the primary.
Thomas, I want so much for us to replace a lackluster Republican Senator like Burr, but we will need something more than the liberal vote in the Triangle area to do so. I can tell you that Chris Rey has generated some strong support among party people here in WNC and has the advantage of being a black guy. I don’t know whether that will be enough either. I just heard Kevin Griffin speak and was impressed with his forthrightness. As I travel around, I meet fervent supporters of Bernie Sanders and it is difficult for me to maintain a semblance of neutrality in the Presidential primary race. I am hoping that the 15 March primary will clear the air somewhat at the Presidential level, in addition to resolving all of the other races except for the Congressional districts. I am waiting to see the federal court’s take on the redistricting.
“Lackluster” … your gift for understatement is indeed impressive. I had several much more colorful adjectives in mind.
It’s interesting that bloggers don’t feel they are part of the MSM like people with radio and TV shows used to feel when we had a Fairness Doctrine that worked. I know I missed Al Franken after he left “Air America” but I understood his reasoning for leaving – he didn’t want to have an unfair advantage over other without the same access to the media
Deborah Ross is our only chance of defeating Senator Burr.
If we had a functioning Democratic Party that was built from the grassroots up and had every one of our approximately 2800 precincts organized, we could let the voters not the outside money donors decide who our best chance is. I prefer the best person to turn our party platform into public policy. That is after all why we hold primaries to put the “D” behind a candidate’s name – right?
All of our candidates for the Senate are excellent this year. However, the race in 2014 cost us $100 million and we still lost. Deborah Ross is the only current candidate who can generate anywhere near the level of national money we need to be competitive. I wish this were not about money but unfortunately it is.