RALEIGH — Republican state Rep. Tim Moffitt should have all the benefits of incumbency, but challenger Brian Turner said he believes he has chipped away at Moffitt’s advantage as the race in House District 116 winds down.

Moffitt’s district covers western Buncombe County, and has been shown to be strong Republican based on Conventional Voting Behavior Ratings used by the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation.

The district is 34.7 percent Democrat, 33.1 percent Republican, and 31.8 percent unaffiliated. The 2012 election was a clean sweep for Republicans in the district in the presidential and statewide races.

Turner, who is a first-time legislative candidate, said he is undeterred by past Democratic performance in the district. He is relying on a grass-roots approach to reach voters who are tired of special interests controlling the debate in Raleigh.

“People have seen the effects of the budget cuts passed by the legislature,” Turner said. “They know the special interest groups are behind a lot of it and that is why I have not accepted any donations from special interest groups or PACs.”

The most recent campaign finance reports from the State Board of Elections show a very close fundraising battle. Moffitt reported raising nearly $505,000 over the campaign cycle, but Turner, a former UNC Asheville vice chancellor, was almost even with the incumbent, reporting almost $503,000 raised.

Turner said he has been relying on individual donations to fuel his campaign, and he has been overwhelmed by the number of contributors who have signed on. He said his campaign stands in stark contrast to Moffitt’s when it comes to the flow of money they are receiving.

“In looking at our campaigns, we have signed on more individual donors in the last six months than he has in the last six years,” Turner said. “We have been fortunate that we have been doing better at the grassroots level.”

His reliance on grass-roots campaigning has allowed him to get beyond the headlines with voters, according to Turner.

“This area responds well to candidates who get out and meet the people,” Turner said. “And that is what I have been doing. It’s a lot of retail politics, a lot of barbecue, fire stations, and schools.”

Turner said his motivation for running was to return the state to the one he remembers growing up.

“Right now this is not the North Carolina I grew up in,” Turner said. “People are seeing the effects of the budget cuts in our public schools, and in our environment.”

Moffitt, who did not make himself available for an interview, was the primary sponsor of 118 bills during the last legislative session, and saw 45 of them become law, including the Regulatory Reform Act of 2013. He was the chairman of the House Regulatory Reform Committee, and vice chairman of the Commerce and Job Development Committee, as well as the State Personnel Committee.

A recent poll conducted in the district by the Civitas Institute in Raleigh showed Moffitt with a slender 1-point lead over Turner, which was within the 5.8 percent margin of error of the poll.

But other questions in the poll may not reflect positively for Moffitt. His unfavorable rating was 44 percent, compared with 32 percent favorable, and 19 percent neutral. As a state, 57 percent of those polled believed the state was on the wrong track, compared with 33 percent who thought the state was heading in the right direction, and 10 percent unsure.

Turner said he felt good about the poll with the election nearing.

“For a moderate Democrat like me to be showing well in the polling says a lot,” Turner said.

Joe Johnson is a contributor to Carolina Journal.