The race in state Senate District 1 was a toss-up in 2012, and it is once again as Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cook and former Sen. Stan White square off again.
Cook, who served in the House before narrowly defeating the incumbent White by 21 votes in that election, has lived up to his conservative credentials in the Senate. Cook sponsored 35 bills and signed on to another 65 as a co-sponsor. He successfully ushered 13 bills into law.
Longtime Democratic state Senate leader Marc Basnight represented District 1 from 1985 until his retirement early in 2011. White was picked to fill the remainder of the term.
Cook, who is from Chocowinity, has garnered endorsements from the North Carolina Chamber, the National Federation of Independent Business, and North Carolina Right to Life.
Cook’s platform has been reducing taxes and strengthening accountability for the Department of Revenue, and extending regulatory reform to reduce the burden of rules and increase corporate efficiency and profitability. He supports the education reforms touted by the legislative leadership of increasing spending by $1 billion since 2010-11, and giving teachers an average 7 percent pay hike this year.
“I am proud of what we’re doing by lowering taxes,” Cook said. “It’s going to take some time transitioning from income taxes to sales taxes to support the state budget, but we will be better for it.”
White said unless the state finds a new set of priorities then it will be further handicapped in its struggle to get the economy going again.
White said he would like to see a restoration of funding to public schools and community colleges. He also said the state’s failure to accept Medicaid expansion funds has put rural hospitals in a precarious financial situation.
“I can’t believe how they neglected teachers,” White said. “Money is not the whole answer. We’ve had good teachers stick it out because they love what they do. We’ve got to do more because states like Virginia and Texas are making themselves attractive to our teachers.”
The N.C. League of Conservation Votes, the State Employees Association of North Carolina, and the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Social Workers have endorsed White.
White said he would like to find a different way to spend state money on DOT road and bridge projects. He cited the new distribution method adopted under GOP leadership as a hindrance to improve road and bridge infrastructure in the district. He said the area now gets about $30 million in transportation funds compared with about $81 million a few years ago.
The marquee project in the district is the replacement of the Bonner Bridge that spans Oregon Inlet. Cook said he would like the state to obtain the land now held by the federal government to speed the project along. White said he was hopeful a compromise could be reached between the federal government and environmental groups to finally allow construction to begin.
Eight counties — Beaufort, Camden, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, Pasquotank, and Perquimans — comprise Senate District 1. It is the largest geographical district, and covers more counties than any of the other 49. Its voters are 43.2 percent Democratic, 27 percent Republican, and 29.5 percent unaffiliated. Women outnumber men in the district 53 percent to 46 percent.
In the 2012 election the major races skewed Republican, as they dominated the top-of-the-ticket races. The election results from the Council of State races and this state Senate seat were much closer. But the state Senate race was closest of all.
Both candidates said they expect another neck-and-neck race.
“Voter turnout is going to be critical,” White said.
One advantage White had over Cook was funds on hand for the reporting period that ended June 30. White had just over $69,000, while Cook was holding about $26,000. White said the difference was in his ability to attract contributions from individuals rather than relying on political party money to fund his campaign.
Joe Johnson is a contributor to Carolina Journal.