(The Center Square) – Friday marks just 34 days until early in-person voting in North Carolina, putting races like Democrat Rachel Hunt and Republican Hal Weatherman in the final stretch for lieutenant governor.
The limited polling on the race shows a toss-up.
A poll from Carolina Forward in August found Hunt with just a 2 percentage points on Weatherman. Another poll had Weatherman leading with the same margin.
If Hunt were to win, it would signal much bigger problems for Republicans in the state.
For nearly a century, the state voted for Democrats almost across the board. That started to change about two decades ago, when the state slowly began flipping to Republicans.
While many races on the state-level still go to Democrats, Hunt faces an uphill battle as the lieutenant governor race has not gone to a Democrat since 2008.
This week, Hunt – daughter of former two-time two-term governor Jim Hunt – controversially pulled out of the only scheduled debate, according to a statement by Weatherman.
Hunt’s campaign maintained that they had never agreed to the debate. Yet, multiple sources told The Carolina Journal that is not true and that both campaigns had agreed for Tuesday of next week.
Hunt is a well-known name throughout the state and received over 70% of the Democratic vote in the primary. Her fundraising efforts have greatly outpaced Weatherman, with her contributions from individuals double.
Her cash-on-hand going into the final stretch of the election was also more than nine times that of Weatherman. She ended the second fundraising period on June 30 with just over $1 million dollars, while Weatherman had $114,000.
At that time though, Weatherman had spent about $56,000 more than Hunt. This is all according to campaign finance documents.
Hunt, who has the endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, has made abortion, health care, and the environment key policy positions of her campaign.
“We cannot let radical politicians take us backward and put North Carolina’s women and families in danger,” she said in a post on social media.
Weatherman, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has labeled himself a “principled conservative” and has prioritized school choice, “deporting illegals,” and being anti-abortion.
Weatherman on social media said said he “will not govern from Raleigh. I will govern from the backroads of North Carolina, accessible to the people, and showing respect to all our counties, no matter how small or rural.”
With Weatherman running on the ticket along with Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, some are concerned about the downballot effects of Robinson’s struggling campaign.
Polls in the governor’s race consistently have Robinson behind his Democratic opponent, sometimes as much as 13% or as little as 4%.
The Robinson race has also become a rallying call for Democrats across the ballot in North Carolina, with them labeling him and other Republicans “extremists.”
Professor Jason Husser of Elon University told The Center Square that downballot races in North Carolina are often a struggle for Republicans, and Robinson could exacerbate that.
“It depends on the psychology of any individual voter going into the ballot box,” he said. “They may say that at the federal level, they’re going to go for Republicans, but they’re worried about Robinson … so they might just check Democrats on some state level races.”
While that is a concern for Republicans, Husser said he doesn’t know how much of a difference it will make.
“I don’t think that’s going to be that many people,” he said. “But, North Carolina elections are so close that even a 5% shift that way could make a difference.”
