President Obama and the Democratic Congress’ agenda hangs in the balance of the national outcome of today’s election. It’s also a crucial contest for a number of Democrats who either hold state office or are seeking it. In Guilford County, two of the tightest races are in NC House District 59, where 16-year Democratic veteran Maggie Jeffus is attempting to fend off a challenge from Republican Theresa Yon, and in the three-way contest for the open NC Senate District 28 seat between Democrat Gladys Robinson, Republican Trudy Wade and independent Bruce Davis.
Enter Yvonne Johnson, whose reelection defeat in last year’s Greensboro mayoral race, ushered in conservative control of city council. Johnson’s loss by 921 votes to Bill Knight came as a surprise to many of her supporters.
Johnson said she recorded a robo-call that went out to households where registered Democrats live with a message that highlighted the consequences of political complacency.
“I basically told people what happened last year about this time, because 10 percent of people came out to vote and the difference in turnout was just enough for me to lose my race,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘Get out and vote so some of these extremist people don’t get in power.”
That message could prove critical for Jeffus, along with Democrat Don Vaughan, who is defending his District 27 seat in the NC Senate. Democrats enjoy a significant advantage in each candidate’s district in voter registration, but Republicans tend to demonstrate more consistent turnout and have shown greater enthusiasm this year. Several precincts in northeast Greensboro where Johnson is a resident and household name hold deep reserves of registered Democrats, and their turnout could be critical to Jeffus’ and Vaughan’s reelection prospects.
Johnson’s call also likely benefits Gladys Robinson, the Democrat in the NC Senate District 28 race. Robinson is expected to split the vote of Democrats and African Americans with Bruce Davis, leaving Trudy Wade to pick up the Republican vote and a good portion of independents.
Wade has her own liabilities to overcome as a white conservative candidate in a district in which black voters outnumber their white counterparts, and a postcard sent out by her campaign last week seeks to mitigate against any racial solidarity black voters might feel towards Robinson and Davis.
“Trudy sent out an postcard with my picture on it and her picture side by side saying Trudy Wade and Yvonne Johnson talk about issues important to the African-American community,” Johnson said. “It gave a lot of people the impression that I support her. She didn’t get my permission and she didn’t inform me about it. I didn’t even know about it until I got my copy in the mail.”
Johnson said she is not backing any of the three candidates in the race.
“You’ve got two very capable African Americans running, so I have not been endorsing anyone,” she said. “I went out to the polls and voted for the person I thought would do the best job.”
Early indicators
As with the rest of the country, interviews with voters in Guilford County today indicate that the key question at stake in this election is whether President Obama's agenda deserves support or repudiation and whether the president's party should retain control of Congress. A similar dialectic plays out in state legislative races, with unrest among voters and Republican challengers highlighting the fact that Democrats have long controlled the General Assembly in Raleigh.
Against the expectation of a Republican wave, some glimmers of hope have appeared today for Democrats hoping to pull out tight races against GOP opponents. Compared to their registration numbers, Democrats in NC Senate District 28 turned out for early voting at higher levels than their Republican counterparts, while enthusiasm appeared to be about equal between the two parties in NC House District 59. And even in Republican leaning precincts in Greensboro's Irving Park neighborhood, along with Brown Summit and Jamestown, voters could be readily found who explicitly mentioned a desire to give President Obama more time to try to succeed in getting the nation out its economic slump.
Other indicators appear to favor the Republican Party. Long lines were reported this morning and high early voting numbers were logged at precincts that tend to be affluent and Republican-leaning. The Guilford County Board of Elections reports that voters waited for 45 minutes in one precinct in High Point, where additional interest has been generated by a municipal election for mayor and city council.
Before daylight, Cecil Livengood walked into First Baptist Church in Greensboro for Bible study. The church is a polling place for precinct G12, but Livengood had already voted. The registered Republican exemplifies the kind of passion and conviction his party hopes will batter down Democratic ramparts.
"They're a bunch of knuckleheads out there," Livengood said, when asked how he felt about the battle over the nation's direction. "They're trying to take this country to socialism with Obama as dictator."
Yet just as typical was Brian Haidinger, an accounts manager for a national office products company, who was headed out of Jamestown Town Hall after being told that he was at the wrong polling place.
"I'd like to see us continue on the path we're on to see if we can put some of these programs into place," said Haidinger, who is registered as an unaffiliated voter. "Everyone who says Obama has gotten nothing accomplished in two years and is driving the this country off the rails, it's utterly ridiculous. They don't remember where we were in January 2009. Anyone who says this country is going in the wrong direction, they haven't been paying attention. Private sectors jobs have been growing for nine months straight."
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