1984 United States Senate election in North Carolina

none March 2026 September 2023 1984 United States Senate election in North Carolina North Carolina presidential no 1978 United States Senate election in North Carolina 1978 1990 United States Senate election in North Carolina 1990 1885 November 6, 1984 150x150px JesseHelmsCropped.png Jesse Helms Republican Party (United States) 1,156,768 51.66% Jim Hunt official portrait (cropped).jpg Jim Hunt Democratic Party (United States) 1,070,488 47.81% 1984 United States Senate election in North Carolina results map by county.svg 325px County resultsHelms: #e27f7f 50– 60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%Hunt: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Republican Party (United States) Jesse Helms Republican Party (United States) The North Carolina United States Senate election of 1984 was held on November 6, 1984, as part of the nationwide elections to the Senate, and coinciding with the 1984 presidential election. The election was a showdown between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and then-incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Hunt. This election was one of the most dramatic in 1984. In the end, Helms won the election, the most expensive non-presidential election in United States history up to that point, by a margin significantly reduced from the margin that Helms achieved in 1978. Had Hunt been elected, He would have been the youngest elected U.S. Senator from North Carolina at the age of 47. That feat would be achieved 14 years later when John Edwards became the youngest elected Senator at 45 in 1998. Primaries Republican primary 1984 North Carolina U.S. Senate Republican primary electionNorth Carolina DataNet #46 http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf April 2008 University of North Carolina June 12, 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080725034758/http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf July 25, 2008 mdy-all Republican Party (United States) Jesse Helms (incumbent) 134,675 90.65% Republican Party (United States) George Wimbish 13,799 9.35% 148,574 Democratic primary Hunt easily defeated businessman Thomas Allred, a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, to win the Democratic nomination.Newspapers.com archive 1984 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election Democratic Party (United States) Jim Hunt 655,429 77.48% Democratic Party (United States) Thomas Allred 126,841 14.99% Democratic Party (United States) Harrill Jones 63,676 7.53% 845,946 General election Campaign Hunt had a commanding lead in opinion polls for much of the campaign, with one poll in 1983 putting him nineteen points clear of Helms.Boyce Joseph N. Lamar, Jacob V. The Old South vs. the New http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923642,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20101029142811/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923642,00.html dead October 29, 2010 Time September 24, 1984 June 10, 2009 However, that was changed by the most bitterly contested election in the country that year. Hunt ran a campaign ad connecting Helms to death squads in El Salvador through his association with the Nationalist Republican Alliance, for whom Roberto d'Aubuisson had recently run for the President of El Salvador. In the short time before election day, however, the highly popular incumbent US President Ronald Reagan gave Helms a significant boosthttp://www.unctv.org/U.SFebruary 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes . Senatorno/peopleevents/events1.html by campaigning for him and running a local TV ad praising Helms and asking registered voters in North Carolina to re-elect him.Ronald Reagan ad for Jesse Helms The election cost a total of $26,379,483 in total reported spending (over twelve times as much as the 1980 race), of which, 64% ($16.9m) was spent by Helms.North Carolina DataNet #25 http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/ncdn25.pdf University of North Carolina June 12, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20080725034847/http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/ncdn25.pdf 2008-07-25 dead This election is remembered as "one of North Carolina's most infamous political battles" and "as a prototype of the no-holds-barred brawls that typify a strand of modern-day partisan politics, polarizing voters along distinct ideological lines."NCpedia: Helms-Hunt Senate race Results 1984 North Carolina U.S. Senate election Republican Party (United States) Jesse Helms (incumbent) 1,156,768 51.66% Democratic Party (United States) Jim Hunt 1,070,488 47.81% Libertarian Party (United States) Bobby Emory 9,302 0.42% Socialist Workers Party (United States) Kate Daher 2,493 0.11% 2,239,051 A study by Voters Education Project in AtlantaOctober 2020 showed that Helms received 63 percent of the white vote and was particularly successful in small towns and rural areas, while receiving less than 1 percent of the black vote in 35 almost-all-black precincts.Jesse Helms' Lesson for Washington Bill Peterson The Washington Post November 18, 1984 January 16, 2017 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1984/11/18/jesse-helms-lesson-for-washington/89952868-aefd-4230-8f39-019e3cdfd0b9/ Hunt got 37 percent of the white and 98.8 percent of the black vote, according to VEP. But only 61 percent of registered blacks voted, down from 63 percent in 1980." EndorsementsJesse Helms (R) Executive branch officials Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (1981–1989) https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-reagan-bush-rally-charlotte-north-carolina Remarks at a Reagan-Bush Rally in Charlotte, North Carolina See also United States Senate elections, 1984 References External links Debates North Carolina Senate General Election Debate on C-SPAN, July 29, 1984 North Carolina Senate General Election Debate on C-SPAN, September 9, 1984 North Carolina Senate General Election Debate on C-SPAN, October 13, 1984 1984 North Carolina Category:Jesse Helms Category:1984 North Carolina elections