Black Democrat on Brink of Ousting Rednecks' Hero News Article from The Times
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October 28, 1990

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Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Working Files - Guinier. Black Democrat on Brink of Ousting Rednecks' Hero News Article from The Times, 1990. f5eaa58c-e192-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/136c677c-9bf9-458b-a541-f92b22b5f7fe/black-democrat-on-brink-of-ousting-rednecks-hero-news-article-from-the-times. Accessed April 22, 2025.
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'rff f had been in the Senate today, I would not be there bashing gays and lesbians, holding up the efforts to do the necessary research to bring an end to this terrible epidemic called AIDSrrr he said. rrl would have demonstrated the kind of cornpassion that represents North Carolina values.rr GRAPHIC: PHOTO, MARTY LEARY, A GANTT BACKER, CONFRONTS HELMS AT CAMPAIGN STOP IN DIIRHAM, N.C. AP TYPE: NATIONAL NEWS SUBJECT: VOTING / ELECTTONS; POLITICAL CAUPAIGNS; U.S. SENATE; NORTH CAROLINA ORGANIZATION: DEMOCRATIC PARTY; REPUBLICAN PARTY press ALT-H for Research Software Help; Press ESC for the Utilities Menu LEVEL ]. 60 OF 1-27 STORIES Copyright (c) l-990 Times Newspapers Limited The Sunday Times October 28 , 1-990, SundaY SECTION: Overseas news LENGTHz 897 words HEADLINE: Black Democrat on brink of ousting rednecks' hero BYLINE: by John CassidY, Raleigh BODY: FROM the salons of Beverly Hills to the gay bars of Greenwich Village, the champagne is on ice. After two decades of stalwart opposition to everything from rock- rn, roll to Aids education, Jesse Helms, the godfather of American conservatlsm and hate-fi-gure of the left, is in danger of being voted out of the Senate. With only nine days before congressional mid-term elections, opj-nion pol1s show Helms trailing Harvey Gantt, a IittIe-known black Democrat, bY up to press ALT-H for Research Software Help; Press ESC for the Utilities Menu (c) l-990 Times Newspapers Linited, October 28, l-990 eight points. The prospect of a Helms defeat has turned the North Carolina election into a symbol of Democratic resurgence and produced a nation-wide mobilisation of celebrities, artists and left-wing activists. The ,rlimousine liberals" Helms has berated for decades are pouring money into Ganttrs campaign. The Hol-l-ywood Women's Po1itical Committee, whose members include Jane fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis, has sent an undisclosed sum. Paul Simon, the pop singer, and Jay Mclnerney, the brat-pack author, both organi-sed successful fund-raising functions. The art world, Helms's most recent target, is also doing its bit. Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein each contributed prints to a raffle that has raised $5OOrOOO. In New York's Soho, the capital of modern art, nearly every gatlery carries a sign that says "Help Defeat Jesse Helms", and LEXIS' NEXIS', LEXIS',n EXrS', LEXIS',tEXrS', Services of Mead Data Central, lnc. gives an address for donations to Gantt. In Raleigh, Helms's hometown, there is not an artist or film star i-n sight, but their money is taking its tolt. The race has become a battle between the forces of urban modernisation, represented by the 47-year-o1d Gantt, and those of rural reactj-on, represented by the 68-year-old senator who once described his constituency as "ignorant rednecks". Press ALT-H for Research Software Help; Press ESC for the Utilities Menu (c) 1990 Times Newspapers Limited, October 28, 1990 'ryou need to send a new type of senator to Washington, one who is willing to address the social ills that face this country, " Gantt told an election ral1y Iast week. ,'This election is more of a referendum on the direction we wiII take in this country than it is a contest between Harvey Gantt and Jesse He1ms. " Ganttrs fund-raising has allowed him to outspend He1ns on television advertisements, the most important element of modern American political campaigns. Gantt's message is that Helms is a relic of the cold war who has nothing to say in the 1990s. One advertisement points out that Helms has voted against education bills 87 times, while also opposing health-care, environrnental and child-care initiatives aII of which are popular with the voters. , rThis is the first time anybody has ever managed to set the agenda against Jesser ru said Jim Johnson, a veteran North Carolina politician who ran agrainst Helms in 1,972. ,,For the first time in all his years in the Senate, he is on the defensive.t' Even some rednecks have deserted Helrns. At one ralIy, a former mernber of the Ku Klux Klan told Gantt he would vote for him because he was sick of "Jesse's No, No, No,,, attitude. Another former Helms supporter said he would vote for press ALT-H for Research Software Help; Press ESC for the Utilities Menu (c) 1990 Times Newspapers Limited, October 28, 1990 Gantt because he was "one brainy nigger". Helmsrs campaiqrn has been at best j-neffectual and at worst non-existent. While Gantt was making five or six speeches a day throughout North Carolina last week, Helms was in Washinqrton trying to ban public funding for "sleaze and slime, in the arts. He dismissed his troubles at home as a conspiracy by the "Iiberal press". To make clear his contempt for the rnedia, Helms hired a former ice-cream woman as his campaign press officer. She refuses to answer questions by telephone and replies only to fax messages. Despite the opinion poIls, it may be too early to write Helms off. He is still a hero to tens of thousands of elderly conservatives, and they have sent him enough money to launch a counter-attack. "He is for Arnerica. He's not for the communists or anybody else," said Hobert Bost,70, who contributed $l-r000 (pounds 520) . ,,He believes in God and he is aware of the enemles within our bordersr " said another. Helms has just launched a new television advertisement, which portrays Gantt as courting the vote of homosexuals. "It seems Harvey Gantt is running two LEXIS' NEXIS', LEXIS', NEXIS' LEXtS',tEXrS' Services of Mead Data Central, lnc.