One of the most contentious congressional races in the country is taking place in north-central North Carolina between Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller and Republican challenger Vernon Robinson.
Stretching from Greensboro to Raleigh, the state’s 13th congressional district has consistently leaned to the Democratic side of the political spectrum. Forty-seven percent of the district’s residents reside in Wake County, according to The Almanac of American Politics, 2006, while most of the rest live in rural counties that have traditionally favored Democratic candidates, including Granville, Person, and Caswell.
The district was created when North Carolina edged out Utah for a new House seat after the 2000 Census reported new population growth in the region. Miller chaired the N.C. Senate committee that drew the 13th district lines. He won the congressional seat by healthy margins in 2002 and 2004.
Given its history, the 13th District might seem an unlikely place for Robinson to launch another bid for Congress. Robinson, a former member of the Winston-Salem City Council, is known for his controversial rhetoric and conservative views on everything from abortion and homosexual marriage to immigration and tax policy.
“Brad Miller’s voting record stands in stark contrast to the traditional values of everyday North Carolinians,” Robinson said. “This district is currently represented by a man that John Fund of the Wall Street Journal has called ‘the most liberal, white congressman in the South.’”
There’s no doubt that Robinson seldom minces words. The former Air Force officer has been involved in a number of contentious races in the past, and his rhetoric has not always been directed at liberal opponents.
In 2004, Robinson campaigned against Virginia Foxx for the congressional seat in the staunchly Republican 5th District. During the heated primary, Robinson aired one ad comparing Foxx to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Foxx eventually won the race in a runoff, earning 55 percent of the vote to Robinson’s 45 percent.
If nothing else, Robinson’s fiery — and often humorous — television and radio commercials have generated national attention and allowed him to keep pace with Miller in fund-raising. As of June 30, Robinson had received nearly $800,000 in total contributions (not including loans), compared to Miller’s $971,058, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Despite his strong fund-raising numbers, Robinson has come under attack for airing television and radio commercials criticizing Miller on illegal immigration and homosexual marriage.
One ad sponsored by Robinson attacks Miller backed by the music of a mariachi band. “Every night, 7,000 aliens rush into our country illegally, and your ultra-liberal Congressman Brad Miller refuses to guard the border,” the ads states. “Instead of deporting them, he votes for amnesty and throws them a party with your tax dollars. Brad Miller gives these aliens welfare, driver licenses, Social Security, free health care, free lawyers, free public educations, even free school lunches…If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals.”
The advertisements angered Miller, who called them “vintage Vernon Robinson.” Miller pointed to past campaigns where Robinson attacked his opponents in a similar fashion.
“This is who Vernon Robinson is,” Miller said. “I am interested in getting something done and being constructive and trying to make a difference in people’s lives. I’m not doing this [kind of behavior], because I have grown out of that phase of immaturity.”
Robinson sees it differently. “Every point made in this campaign’s advertising comes from votes cast by Brad Miller,” he said. “If more Republicans ran hard-hitting ads that reflect the values of the overwhelming majority of the voters and did so with a bit of biting humor, more of us would get elected in tough districts.”
Robinson also referenced a lawsuit filed by Carolyn Grant, Miller’s Republican opponent for the 2002 general election, over an advertisement Miller ran during the campaign. “We didn’t hear one [word] out of these critics when Brad’s 2002 ad dragged his opponent’s divorce and minor child into the campaign and then, according to Judge Howard Manning, lied about her stealing $40,000 from her son’s college fund to buy a car,” Robinson said. “That is what I would call inappropriate advertising.”
Robinson’s ads have done nothing to prompt Miller into a debate over hot-button social issues such as immigration and the definition of marriage. Instead, Miller is focusing on topics such as high rates on mortgage lending and job creation.
“I have worked on [mortgage lending] for four years now,” he said. “I have staved off bad legislation, but have also been involved in serious good faith discussions involved in the issue. “
Miller sponsored the Prohibit Predatory Lending Act of 2005, a bill that would amend the Truth in Lending Act to crack down on high rates for mortgage lending. “It will protect consumers from having their trust betrayed and it will make sure that lenders can still give credit to people who need it,” he said.
Miller also emphasized the economy as a priority of his campaign. “We are going through a very difficult economic transition,” he said. “Having our standard of living improve or hold to where we are is going to be a challenge. We need to work to ensure we have the best work force in the world. We need to have the most innovative economy in the world. We need to have the most agile economy in the world. That involves helping small businesses and creating jobs.”
Conversely, illegal immigration is front and center of Robinson’s campaign. “The greatest issue facing this nation is a failure to secure our borders,” he said. “Every day, 7,000 illegal aliens cross our southern border and come here to take jobs from American citizens…We are shifting the costs from the service and construction sectors to the government sector of our economy,” he said. “Americans are subsidizing this alien illegal invasion.”
Robinson also noted a variety of social issues — homosexual marriage, taxpayer-funded abortion, and religious freedom — on which he disagrees with Miller. “I would work to return our country to a limited constitutional republic anchored on the Judeo-Christian values that made us great,” he said.
David N. Bass is an editorial intern with Carolina Journal.