Cultural divide

by | Oct 3, 2014 | 2014 Elections, US Senate | 7 comments

Thom Tillis is having difficulty connecting with his base. His problems are really the same problems that plagued GOP candidates for governor throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The Republican base is much more conservative than the state as a whole. But Tillis also faces cultural barriers that hinder his ability to bridge the gap.

Republicans in North Carolina have had problems with their base for the past two decades. In 1996, former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot ran for the GOP nomination for Governor but lost the primary to the much more conservative Robin Hayes because of his support for Planned Parenthood. In 2000, Vinroot ran again. This time, he ran hard to the right in the primary and won but couldn’t get past Democrat Mike Easley because his rhetoric and positions left him out of touch with mainstream voters.

In North Carolina, the Republican base is made up of three types of conservatives: the small government, free market folks, the more paranoid, anti-government types who make up the TEA Party and the ones who don’t care how big government is as long as it’s policing your bedroom. The anti-government and social conservatives come mainly from rural areas with strong ties to local communities and traditional institutions. The small government business wing that produced Tillis tends to hail from cities and suburbs and has a preoccupation with making money, not fighting the culture war.

Tillis is the first Republican candidate for Senate who doesn’t have deep ties to North Carolina. He moved to the state in 1998 with a very corporate job and settled in Cornelius, a bedroom community of lakeside mansions and gated communities, just north of Charlotte. In his ads, he talks about being a short order cook or paper boy instead of bragging about picking tobacco or driving a tractor.

Tillis’ first foray into politics was to encourage the town of Cornelius to build a mountain bike trail. The rural TEA Partiers and Christian conservatives ride four-wheelers and probably wouldn’t want their tax dollars wasted on frivolous expenditures for elitists on $2,000 bicycles. In short, they don’t trust Thom Tillis’ view of the role of government.

But they also don’t trust him to preserve traditional institutions. When the legislature put a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot, Tillis said that in 20 years the gay marriage ban would be overturned anyway. His words may have rung true to urban and suburban dwellers, but for rural conservatives who believe their way of life is under assault, they were blasphemy and betrayal.

Tillis can’t get the Republican base to fall in line because they don’t trust him. He’s got few ties to churches or traditional institutions and the TEA party is almost as anti-corporate as they are anti-government. His button-down demeanor and suburban lifestyle leaves little connection to either the more radical TEA partiers or the more traditional social conservatives. They want a culture warrior. They got a suit.

7 Comments

  1. Mick

    Oh man, Smithson! The perfect answer to Main Street’s rhetorical question. Sadly……..

  2. Some one on Main Street

    Tillis is the man who brought us the MotorcycleVagina bill, who talks excessively about his hatred of ACA, who supervised a legislature that made it legal to carry guns in parks, on college campuses and in bars. He’s proudly anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-Obama, and firmly believes that the private market solves all problems and causes none.

    He’s a true conservative culture warrior, at least in the mind of this newbie to NC. That’s he’s boring as he relays his message – that’s a different story. But I am shocked that there are people who find Tillis to be too liberal. What on earth are they looking for?!

    • Smithson

      They are looking for Jesse Helms.

      • Someone from Main Street NC

        I see… the #NCGOP push to head back in time is relentless… and successful to date. But here’s to hoping that we keep Tillis home near his barbecue and far, far from D.C.

  3. Reed

    Was it Jim Gardner or Robin Hayes who beat Richard Vinroot in 1996 for the GOP nomination for Governor?

    • Thomas Mills

      Robin Hayes. Fixed it. My memory is aging. Thanks.

  4. Mick

    Wow….smack on and well written. I had not connected the dots of his being a NC newbie, corporate suit, suburban foo-foo, and chafer of religious beliefs. Thx!

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