Harvey Gantt Interview Transcript

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HEADLINE: HELMS DEFEATS GANTT IN DUEL OF OLD, NEW SOUTH

BYLINE: BY LEE MAY, TIMES STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C.

BODY:
Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, icon of ultra-conservatives, defeated Democrat

ttarvey Gantt, the former mayor of Charlotte, winning a fourth term and snuffing
out his chaltenger's dream of becoming the nation's only bl-ack senator.

With 942 of the vote counted, Helms led 53? to 472, a comfortable
130,000-vote margin.
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(c) l-990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, l-990

Shortly before midnight, a feisty Helms addressed cheering supporters at a
downtown Raleigh hote1. He hailed a |treturn to the rnoral and spiritual i.deals,tl
lambasted rrcheap politicians,'t the media, his critics and rrthe nighty liberal
Establi-shmenttt and declared that they rrhave struck out again.rt

To shouts of rrGive'em hellltr and frIell itlr Helrns, surrounded by his happy
fanily, declared: ttToday, you have given me a mandate to continue to say no, and
I make this covenant with you tonight: If the liberat politicians think I've
been a thorn i-n their sides in the past, they haven't seen anything yet."

Minutes tater, dt a nearby hotel, Gantt, clearly disappointed, spoke to his
supporters, catling for unity and continued pursuit of liberal ideals.

trIrm stilt smiling from way down deep, even though I hurt,rr Gantt saidr ds
supporters chanted: ttHarvey! Harvey! rr

He asserted that he wanted to rrappeal to your best aspirations,rr and said
that rlit is stilI important that we address the probfems of our children. . . . rr

As his wife, Cindy, sobbed at his side, Gantt said, ttI'rl going to continue to
hold out hope that one day we'11 reach that point in time when hIe move together
as a community. tt

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(c) 1990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1990

While his aides refused to caII his remarks a concession, several adnitted
privately that it was virtually impossible for Gantt to overtake Helms' lead.

Initial analyses showed that Helms drew heavily from less-educated white
voters and those who are native North Carolinians, while Gantt won support among
newcomers, black voters and well-educated white voters. Analysts had figured
that Gantt needed to win at least 4OZ of the white votes to win.

The contest ended on a fractious note, ES a massive failure of voting
machines caused a judge to order po1ls in Durham County left open 2 l/2 hours
beyond the scheduled 7z3O p.m. closing time. Officials also ordered crowded
potts in Guilford County opened an hour longer. Both are urban areas believed to
be Gantt strongholds.

WhiIe Gantt rushed out to make extraordinary Election Night campaign appeals

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in Durham County, Helms campaign officials tried to get the order reversed and
threatened to fornally protest the election.

The late maneuvering, including charges of voting irregularities, seemed a
fitting climax in a contest that pitted a black challenger against the
controversial white incumbent who, during his l-8 years in the senate, has
synbolized far-right conservatism.
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(c) l-990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1990

Both candidates watched the electi-on returns here Tuesday night, after Helms
voted here and Gantt cast his ballot in Charlotte. After voting, Helms stayed
home, but Gantt stumped for votes throughout the day.

He1ms, contentious to the end, totd reporters after voting that he had just a
few words for Gantt: rrTell the truth, for once.rt

After casting his ballot, Cantt said: rrWe always thought we hlere going to
win. rr

The two men fought a bitter, bruising battle that, in the end, centered on
race and became a metaphor for the nation's emotional confrontation with the
issues of race and racism. More than any other political campaign this year, the
face-off between Gantt and Helms came to represent a struggle between the OId
South and the New.

Gantt, in speeches and advertisernents, portrayed Helms as ineffective in the
Senate on a range of issues, including education, the environment and health
care. He supported women's right to choose abortion and criticized Helms for
opposing abortion rights. ttlt's time for a change,tt he said repeatedly.

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(c) L99O Los Angeles Times, Novernber 7, 1990

Helms counted on North Carolinians to be content with the status quo,
believing that he could win with an appeal based more on what he dlsliked than
what he 1iked. Thus, in his campaign speeches, remarks on the Senate floor,
interviews and ads he castigated homosexuals, liberals, some artists and women's
rights activists.

To the end, Helrns refused to acknowledge that his campaigrn centered on the
o1d issue of race, insisting that the Senate race simply pitted a conservative
against a liberal, grood against evil.

North Carolina was ripe for this confrontation of contrasts. A state of
contradictions, it is known nationally for its Research Triangle, dr area that
hums with new technology and new residents who nigrated to the state. But it is
also a state that ranks 49th on Scholastj-c Aptitude Test scores, one that
routinely suffers racial clashes and hate-group activity.

rrNorth Carolina, without question, has these two sides,rt said Nancy Neale,
who directs the undergraduate social work program at Appalachian State
University and is president of the state chapter of the National Assn. of Social
Workers. "The mean side divides people up, setting off their worst fears. That's
what we had in this race. rr

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(c) 1990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1990

The combatants were well-matched archetypes -- the white symbol of power
against the black symbol of hope for power-

Gantt, a A7-year-old architect, rdas born in Charleston, S.C., one of five
siblings whose iather was a Naval shipyard worker. From an inpoverished
beginning, Gantt rose to mark several firsts, including becominqr, in L963, the
fiist blick student at Clemson University. He earned a master's degree in city
planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in l-983 was elected-charlotlers first black mayor. He was reelected two years later but lost a third
atternpt in L987.

During his Senate campaign, Gantt often cited Charlotte, where 758 of voters
were whif.e, to remind aouUters that he had a history of attracting white voters
and defeating white candidates.

None, however, had ever been as willing as Helms to use race in a campaign-

The 69-year-o1d senator, a native of Monroe, N.C., son of the 1oca1 police
chief, att6nded Wake Eorest College but never gradua!.d. Among.his several media
jobs was a L2-year run as an editorialist at a television station here, a

f,osition that rnade him famous as a hardball conservative.

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(c) l-990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, L99o

Helms parlayed his notoriety as television commentator into his first
successful Senite race in L972, winningr reelection in L978 and l-984.

previously, however, his opponents had been white. The 1990 contest, with
Gantt the fiist btack Democralic nominee, Ieft analysts guessing when Helms
would make the contest a racial one-

He1ms gambled on making the racial gambit late in the race. Up until October,
he spent iittfe ti-me in the state, working instead on Senate business in
Washington, running advertisements and using fund-raising letters to take swipes
at rthe special inlerests -- the ACLU, the homosexual crowd, the Hollywood fat
cats, neol1e for the American Way, the so-calIed National Orqanization for
Women, Planned Parenthood and the union bosses.rt

Then, with Election Day about two weeks off, and opinion polls showing that
Gantt was leading, Helms Lurned up the heat on race, in speeches as well as in
advertisements.

rrhat was a wake-up call,rt said Thad Beyte, a political science professor at
the University of north Carolina. ItThat was to telI voters that 'this is an
important race. Come on out.' That resonates with Some people.rr

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(c) l-990 Los Angeles Times, November 7, L990

GRApHIC: photo, Sen. Jesse Helms after voting in Raleigh, N.C. The Republican
was reelected to a 4th term. Agence France-Presse; Photo, (Orange County
Edition) Denocratic hopeful Harvey Gantt and wife Cindy hug after voting.

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