One of the most notable congressional campaigns is being waged by a candidate who is in a supposedly noncompetitive district. That candidate is Sue Googe, who is running to be the Republican nominee in the Fourth District, currently represented by David Price.
Googe has recently been getting more publicity than many sitting members of Congress, with her campaign making both national and international news, mostly due to her profile as a Chinese American seeking office as a Republican. The latest news stories, in addition to highlighting her Chinese background, also mention her support for the candidacy of Donald Trump (who labeled her “high energy”) and also her campaign logo, which has gotten attention for being very similar to the Google logo.
Before Googe can take on David Price, she’ll have to get past the Republican primary, and it’s not clear that she’ll do so. With the June 7th primary date looming, Googe is cautiously optimistic, but turnout is expected to be as low as 5%, making the congressional contest unpredictable. Her opponent, Teiji Kimball, has been active in the Durham County GOP for years. While Durham County is only a small portion of the new 4th district, Googe is taking no chances, saying that she’s seen other frontrunners who ended up losing despite getting a lot of press.
Yesterday, Googe received the endorsement of the Indy Week, a leading Triangle progressive newspaper, for the Republican primary. Indy Week endorsed Googe due to her anti-war positions and her desire to focus on criminal justice reform, stands that defy conventional Republican positions and which could help her win over Democrats and independents. Googe says she intends to represent all constituencies in her district should she be elected, across the ideological spectrum. Her top priority, though, is one that most Republicans can agree on: dealing with illegal immigration.
Googe is an advocate of term limits, pledging to serve no more than three terms in Congress. She says she wants to go to Washington to get things done, not to stick around. She aspires to be a “citizen legislator” as originally intended by the Framers, not to be a career politician. In addition, Googe says she wants to inspire young people to pursue public office, particularly young conservatives.
Regardless of whether or not she wins this year, Googe has cemented herself as a rising star in the North Carolina Republican Party. She’s someone to keep an eye on. And despite the lopsided district she’s running in, the race against David Price is one to watch should she win the Republican nomination.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
Rising star that will be snuffed out as soon as she swims into the deep toxic right wing racist that is the national Republican party. Sure. Next.
While you note that Googe received the endorsement of the Indy Week, the very first sentence of that article (Indy Week) states “No Republican will beat incumbent David Price in November.”
End of story.
OK, so Googe, if she wins the GOP primary, might lose to Price by only 15 points instead of 20. Woop-de-dam-do…..
But, in the gerrymandered world of the NC politics, I supposed that might make her some sort of “rising star.”
But you haven’t giving the irony of the 13th’s congressional race enough of a spotlight. NCGOP gerrymandering, found unconstitutional in two districts, forced not just statewide NC congressional district re-mapping, but also a special, stand-alone, congressional primary date (at $9M of additional public taxpayer expense, BTW), that could result in the the lowest voter turnout percentage for a US House seat primary ever. Thus, egregious GOP gerrymandering may have (1) cost Googe the bigger and better name-recognition opportunity that would have been available had this primary been staged back in March; (2) reduced the time she can campaign and fund-raise against Price (if she indeed wins next week) by almost two months, (3) still stuck her in a district in which the incumbent has a big advantage of registered Dem voters, and (4) just 5% of eligible voters determining the GOP nominee—a turnout so low that even a supposedly “better” candidate can lose.
Well said John!