The 1980 election all over again

Congressman Don Davis was serving food and shaking hands with his new constituents on a recent Saturday in Pamlico County, one of six counties added to his district last October when our legislature, at Donald Trump’s insistence, gerrymandered the First Congressional District.

Legislators used a gerrymandering technique called “cracking” in creating the new district with 6 new counties and removing 4 from Davis’ previous district, including his Greene County home. In so doing they carefully divided what had previously been a highly competitive district with a significant number of Black and Democratic voters, (favoring a Democrat by 2 percentage points) to one that cracked apart minorities and moved them to the predominantly white Republicans voters in new 3^rd Congressional district. Now Davis’ district favors Republicans by 8 percentage points.

Davis called it one “one of the darkest moments in our state’s history.” He wasn’t alone. Incumbent Republican Congressman Greg Murphy also disagreed with the redistricting, saying that it was very hard because the realignment split his district in half. Even so, Murphy is still favored to win by 6 points.

Davis’ opponent in November is Republican Laurie Buckhout, who he narrowly defeated (by 1.7%) in 2024.

The congenial and popular Davis vows he will win despite the odds and remain in Congress. Only 4 Democrats, three of whom are African Americans, are currently in our 14-member congressional delegation. To show just how misrepresentative our delegation is consider that 29.8% of all registered voters in our state are Democrats, 30.1% are Republicans and 39.5% are Independents.

Is Don Davis just a starry-eyed optimist to dream he can win on November 3^rd?

Maybe not this year. Voters in North Carolina, like voters all over the US, are angry. A recent Change Research poll taken at the end of July showed 71% of voters in our state are not satisfied with the direction in NC. Only 10% were satisfied. Almost the same number said they weren’t satisfied with the direction the country is taking.

Longtime political consultant Gary Pearce, one of the sponsors of the poll, summarized the findings, “I’ve lived through unhappy times in politics, like Vietnam and Watergate. But nothing like this.

“Voters’ negativity was the single most striking finding in our poll. It pervades every demographic group, every region of the state and every political affiliation.

“The least unhappy people are those who voted for Trump in 2024 (57%). The 18-34 year-olds are the most unhappy. 82 percent of them aren’t satisfied with the country’s direction.”

The poll gave North Carolina positive ratings on only two categories: “providing good roads and highways” (50% positive,47% negative) and “protecting the right to vote” (47-43% positive.

Only 26% gave positive ratings “on providing all children with good schools.” 66% said we weren’t. The same 26% gave positive ratings for “providing affordable, quality health care;” 63% said we weren’t. 74% were negative about North Carolina’s paying teachers well.

And here’s the capper. 72% of those polled (which included 31% Democrats, 33% Republicans and 35% Unaffiliated) said they were extremely motivated to vote this year.

November’s election is reminiscent of the 1980 campaign when Ronald Reagan asked voters: Are you better off than you were four years ago?

You don’t have to spend all your time running against Trump. And you don’t need to devote too much energy to criticizing our Republican-led legislature.

Just ask those you meet: Are you happier with the way things are going today? The voters will take it from there.

But it’s not enough just to remind voters why they are upset. Successful candidates need to tell them what they propose to make things better. How are they going to improve our schools? What do they propose to make our elections fairer and more representative? How would they change our legislature to truly represent our state? How can we ensure more people get better health care?

And voters, if you identify that candidate asking the right questions and providing some reasonable solutions you must help them win. In this day of big money shadow campaigns run by special interest groups of people who won’t identify themselves we cannot be passive. We must be proactive, helping good candidates by knocking on doors, handing out literature, making financial contributions and talking them up. It does take a village.

As we head into the last two months of the ’26 election the signs are pointing to perhaps the biggest change election North Carolina has seen in our lifetimes.

Back in 1980, President Jimmy Carter blamed his re-election defeat on malaise, defined as discomfort, a lack of confidence, feeling lost and uncertain. This year voters are angry, highly motivated to vote and want change.

It’s going to get interesting.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com