Alas, Don Davis

NC Congressional District 1, newly gerrymandered, used to be a safe Democratic seat, and had belonged to venerable G.K. Butterfield since 2004. A first attempt to gerrymander what had been a majority Black constituency caused Butterfield to announce in late 2021 that he would not run again because his old district had become unwinnable. But ... oops. The courts got involved, and the district was redrawn by a special master and became the Democratically leaning district that Don Davis won with 52% of the vote in 2022. We could have guessed what was coming. The Republicans map-drawers got unleashed again by the very partisan NC Supreme Court and redrew CD1 again in 2024 so that now the district is considered the only true "swing district" in North Carolina, which some commentators say leans slightly R but Dave's scores it at 50.9% D to 47.7% R.

Don Davis, Democrat

Young Don Davis is one of seven Democratic congressmen from North Carolina, and he looks to be in some trouble with a rising Republican star (recently designated a new Republican "Young Gun") running against him. To complicate his life, Don Davis may have alienated some Black women in District 1 (which is 40.5% Black) by siding with Congressional Republicans to denounce Kamala Harris. Oy.

Davis was one of only five Democrats who voted last Thursday for the Republican resolution that condemned Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on immigration policy. Then within 24 hours on Friday, Davis publicly endorsed Harris, the last North Carolina Democratic Congressperson to do so. Denounced her on Thursday. Endorsed her on Friday. Did something happen?

Davis's rise in Democratic politics has been impressive. He was the youngest mayor ever in the little town of Snow Hill. He served in the Air Force and rose to the rank of captain. Well educated at the Air Force Academy and at Central Michigan University and East Carolina University, he went on to teach Aerospace Studies at East Carolina. Altogether, he spent 20 years teaching at various levels. His interest in politics became pronounced in 2004 when he actually filed to run for the CD1 seat -- which was open at the time -- in the Democratic primary, but he dropped out before the vote, which G.K. Butterfield won in a landslide. Davis came back in 2008 to win a seat in the NC Senate (Dist. 5, Pitt, Wayne, and Greene), lost it in the Tea Party wave of 2010, but came back in 2012 to run again in a newly redrawn district, won and went on to serve in the Senate through 2022 as a conservative Dem. He decided to try again for Congress when Butterfield retired, and he won against conservative firebrand Sandy Smith. This year marks his first reelection bid. 

Davis is a senior lay-minister in the same Presbyterian church he grew up in. Which perhaps explains his religiously motivated vote for S359, the anti-abortion bill "that would criminalize doctors, shame patients, and disproportionately impact black women." Gov. Cooper vetoed it. Davis then committed the sin that is greater, he helped the Republicans override the governor's veto. The House at that time couldn't override, so that veto of that abortion bill held until 2023, when Tricia Cotham jumped the carousel and provided the vote in the House to make abortions more restrictive and to subsequently override the governor's veto.

Don Davis also broke ranks to vote for the Republican budget in 2019, allegedly because the Republican oligarchy earmarked dollops of over $400 million for several mainly Black districts. Political bribery. But painful as it sometimes is, I certainly prefer a Democrat in CD1 to the Republican alternative.

Laurie Buckhout, Republican

Buckhout is one of 26 Republican candidates nationwide recently designated a Republican "young gun" by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Being a "Young Gun" gives Buckhout access to mentors, support, and tools from the NRCC. "Buckhout, 62, of Edenton, is a retired Army colonel who created Corvus Consulting, a business specializing in electronic warfare and cyberspace operations. She sold the business for $43 million only seven years after launching it." (NandO)

In keeping with the whole vibe of The He-Man Woman Haters Club, or at least the virus of trumpism that has become the sum and substance of the NCGOP, Buckhout is "A Conservative Who Will FIGHT." Fighting, promising to fight, itching for a fight. That's the prevailing meme, and Buckhout fits right in with the boys, relying heavily on her experience commanding 800 men in combat in Iraq (according to her introduction video). She's genuinely earned her warrior status through family genes: 

[Buckhout] follows a long line of combat veterans, including her Infantry Colonel father, her Army Air Corps Flight Nurse mother, her grandfather, her uncles and multiple other relatives. Laurie’s husband Paul, a West Point graduate and Army Infantry Airborne Ranger, is also a retired officer from a family of combat veterans stretching back to the French and Indian Wars of 1754-1763. (website)

She's formidable, and she's apparently had Democratic oddsmakers in DeeCee spooked since before the March primary, which Buckhout won over the more wingnut crazy Sandy Smith by a comfortable margin, despite the best efforts of at least one ill-advised Democratic PAC who ran ads saying Donald Trump had endorsed Smith in the primary. He had not, though he endorsed her for the same seat when Don Davis won in 2022. The Rolling Sea Action Fund was forced to take down the ad, though they continued to try to help Smith, who lost anyway. Buckhout crowed that she had "owned the Libs," a phrase that belongs usually to the cliched fringe of that party.

She's Trump all the way and will be bad news for never resisting the overtures of the strong man.

Oppo Research Coming for Democrats

 

For hardcore politicos, the ones especially with a disturbingly microscopic interest in North Carolina politics, Marshall Terry's interview with Bryan Anderson about the skill and practice of "opposition research" is a really informative read. It was done for WFAE, Charlotte's NPR radio station. Anderson previously wrote a piece for The Assembly, "Oppo Man," about Charles Hellwig, a self-described "right wing nut" who wants the most conservative person to win any race he signs on to help. Hellwig was the operative who exposed Cal Cunningham's sexual adventures before the 2020 election. He's very proud of it.

So WFAE interviewer Anderson got Hellwig to spill beans on who Hellwig is currently assisting, or planning to assist, through the 2024 elections:

Erin Pare

*Erin Paré, Republican House member from Wake County (Dist. 37), the last surviving Republican to represent any Wake County district in either House or Senate. She beat Democrat Sydney Batch in 2020 and held on to the seat in 2022 by a healthy 3 points. According to press accounts, she was very active on shaping the new anti-abortion laws and was one of the "moderate" Republican women who kept the ban to 12 weeks rather than 6. She has just announced her candidacy for the U.S. Congress, for CD13, the seat currently occupied by Wiley Nickel. She came out of the gate sounding very much like the darling of a right-wing nut: "I won’t stand by while radical liberals ruin our economy, allow crime to run rampant on our streets, and indoctrinate our children. I have stood up to the woke mob here in NC and I’ll do the same in Washington! Join us - let's stop the radical Left!" So now Charles Hellwig will be digging into Wiley Nickel like a mealworm.

*Jon Hardister, who's giving up his House seat (Dist. 59) (and a powerful role as chief Republican whip) to run in 2024 for labor commissioner. He's considered a dishonest snake for being the prime operative in the budget veto override ambush pulled off by Speaker Tim Moore early on the morning of September 11, 2019. The Democrat so far in the race for Labor Commissioner: Braxton Winston II, a Charlotte city councilman. He'll no doubt present a colorful target for Hellwig's oppo research.

*Fred Von Canon, a veteran also-ran who's now signing on for a Congressional race in CD1. He ran twice unsuccessfully against Terence Everitt for the District 35 House seat. Before Von Canon can face incumbent Democrat Donald Davis in November, he must get through a possibly nasty primary with Sandy Smith, a Republican businesswoman from eastern North Carolina. She's the MAGA flamethrower who has lost a CD1 race twice in 2020 and 2022. You might expect a man like Hellwig to gravitate to the much more conservative Smith, but the other part of his druthers in a Republican candidate -- the most conservative -- is the kicker, "who can conceiveably win." Hellwig apparently doesn't think Sandy Smith can beat Don Davis.

 

The NC Congressional Races, 2022

 

We now have seven Democrats representing North Carolina in the US Congress, seven of 14, so we improved our numbers there and helped blunt Democratic losses in other states (like in Florida, where -- yikes! -- there is officially no intelligent life surviving).

Don Davis

CD1 -- Democrat Don Davis comfortably beat the bullying Trumpist Sandy Smith by 11,600 votes for the open seat once held by the venerable G.K. Butterfield.

CD2 -- Democrat Deborah Ross easily held on to her seat.

CD3 -- Republican incumbent Greg Murphy easily buried his Democratic opponent.

CD4 -- Democrat Valerie Foushee easily won David Price's open seat.

CD5 -- Republican Virginia Foxx ... don't get me started.

CD6 -- Democratic incumbent Kathy Manning won reelection with 53.75% of the vote.

CD7 -- Republican incumbent David Rouzer easily put away Democrat Charles Graham, who had one of the best introductory candidate videos, produced by Frank Eaton while Graham was planning to run against Dan Bishop in CD9, but new gerrymandering did him in there.

CD8 -- Republican Dan Bishop, a male Virginia Foxx, is now elected to be a jerk to infinity and beyond.

CD9 -- Republican incumbent Richard Hudson easily won reelection.

CD10 -- Republican incumbent Patrick McHenry took 72% of the vote.

CD11 -- Republican Chuck Edwards is now permanently (probably) a D.C. fixture, beating Jasmine Beach-Ferara. It wasn't even close.

Wiley Nickel

CD12 -- Democratic incumbent Alma Adams easily beat Madison Cawthorn clone Tyler Lee, who apparently believes he's on a mission from God.

CD13 -- For Ted Budd's old House seat, Democrat Wiley Nickel beat the other Madison Cawthorn clone, Bo Hines, by over 7,000 votes. Hines and his patron Donald Trump were counting on that red wave, which didn't arrive for him. Maybe Hines can now go seek an actual job.

CD14 -- For the brand new 14th, state Sen. Jeff Jackson easily rolled over his Republican challenger. Can't help thinking he would maybe have won that Senate seat this year.