RALEIGH — Despite uninspiring poll numbers, and her unwavering support of Obamacare, which remains unpopular with many North Carolina voters, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is not considered vulnerable in the May 6 Democratic primary.
While decrying the use of “outside” money from Republican opponents of her candidacy, Hagan has amassed millions of dollars of support from donors to her campaign and independent expenditure groups. As a result, she is not expected to face any threat from her lesser-known primary opponents, Ernest Reeves of Greenville and Will Stewart of Hampstead. Reeves is a retired military officer. Both men own small businesses.
According to federal campaign finance reports, Hagan spent more than $1.5 million from Jan. 1 through April 16, and had $8.6 million cash on hand. No report could be found for either of her challengers.
Hagan, a first-term senator, long-time member of the General Assembly, and former bank executive from Greensboro, did not respond to requests for an interview.
“I’m not a corporate politician, and I don’t owe anybody any favors,” said Stewart, a self-described populist who supports Voter ID laws and tax reform. “It doesn’t surprise me that Kay Hagan happens to be from the financial industry, and when she got to Washington she voted to bail out the banks.”
“I have no big money spender backing me. I owe nobody any favors,” said Reeves, a Second Amendment supporter whose father lacked formal education but reared 12 children. If elected, he said, he would give back 10 percent of his $174,000 congressional salary.
A mid-April Civitas Institute poll showed Hagan’s ratings at 46 percent unfavorable to 44 percent favorable. Worse survey results were obtained by High Point University at the end of March and in early April, 43-35 percent, and Elon University in late February, 49-33 percent.
Combined with polling that shows more North Carolina voters oppose than support the Affordable Care Act, political observers say that could spell trouble for Hagan in the Nov. 4 general election. National pundits say she must win for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate.
Yet Hagan has doubled down on her support of Obamacare, whose language she helped craft in committee. She said she would vote for it again.
Stewart said Hagan “was a mockingbird for Obama” on the Affordable Care Act, and was untruthful promising constituents they could keep their health plan. “If you want to toe the party line that’s OK, but be honest with your constituents.”
Stewart called himself “a free-market capitalist,” but said he would not repeal Obamacare, and would favor a single-payer system.
“I am 100 percent behind the Affordable Care Act,” Reeves said. “I believe it is one of the best pieces of legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress, and I’m glad Justice [John] Roberts cast the vote [in the Supreme Court] to put it over the top.”
Stewart and Reeves had different takes on the $17.5 trillion national debt.
“There’s no way to actually pay down the national debt,” Stewart said. “We need oversight of the money we are spending. The money system is causing the debt problem. The Federal Reserve, we’re literally creating money out of thin air.”
Reeves believes some defense spending can be cut but wants veterans programs to be fully funded.
“I’m not an entitlement guy,” Reeves said, and believes those programs should provide temporary help only. He supports restructuring Medicare, but would increase funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
Stewart said comprehensive immigration reform is needed, noting it’s easier to come to the United States and have an “anchor baby” to remain here than it is to go through the system legally. He does not support amnesty.
He said immigration should be tied to industries that need foreign workers. Illegal immigrants could be given a time frame to obtain work permits to stay here, while those who remain undocumented would be deported, he said.
“If we really want to be serious about immigration reform, we have to block up some of those holes on the border,” Reeves said. Troops targeted for downsizing could, instead, be put on the border, he said. He does not support amnesty.
Reeves and Stewart differ on national security issues.
“I’m for the [National Security Agency], the CIA, and all the other agencies we have to protect this country as long as they are doing it legally,” Reeves said. He believes the secret federal FISA Court protects citizens’ rights when granting surveillance warrants.
He believes former NSA worker Edward Snowden should be prosecuted for releasing documents exposing the NSA’s spying on citizens.
In contrast, Stewart said, “I would adamantly vote against the Patriot Act [because it] pretty much gave the intelligence community carte blanche to go ahead and spy on whoever they want, and it’s been used to justify them doing whatever they want,” he added.
“I am absolutely opposed to domestic spying. It undermines the Constitution and the right to be free from search and seizure,” he said, calling domestic use of drones “a gross overreach.”
Stewart and Reeves also differ on concerns that President Obama’s increasing use of executive orders on important public policy matters creates de facto legislation that threatens the balance of constitutional power.
“I’d like to see executive orders done away with. They’ve only been abused,” and Congress should do more to protect its checks and balances, Stewart said. “It’s quite disturbing.”
“I don’t have a problem with anything regarding executive orders,” Reeves said. “When you run a national campaign and you win the presidency of the United States, then you have some rights, and you have some authority with your office.”
Reeves said the loss of American lives in the Benghazi terrorist attack “was an American travesty.” He would support a bipartisan commission to determine how to avoid future security failures.
But he said ongoing congressional hearings appear to be staged to gain political points on Benghazi, the Fast and Furious gun-walking program, and IRS targeting of conservative nonprofit groups.
“They need to bring closure to those and move on to something else,” he said.
“I think if you and I had done anything like any of the above we’d probably be in prison for the rest of or lives. None of us should be above the law,” Stewart said.
“Most Americans believe our government is corrupt. … We’re more divided now than we were pre-2008,” he said.
Dan E. Way (@danway_carolina) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.