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Sen. Tillis fights to retain seat
Sen. Thom Tillis.
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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER
There are few races in North Carolina this cycle that hold more consequence than that for the United States Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Thom Tillis.
Of the 100 seats in the United States Senate, 53 are currently held by Republicans, and 45 are held by Democrats. Two independent senators, Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, both caucus with Democrats, giving Republicans the slim but sufficient majority they used to stymie impeachment last winter, and to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, in the coming weeks.
There are 35 Senate seats up for grabs this year; 12 are held by Democrats, but only two are listed as “competitive” races by The Washington Post. Republicans hold 23 of those seats, of which 12 — including that of Sen. Tillis — are considered competitive.
With the House of Representatives firmly under Democratic control — as it will likely remain after Election Day — Democrats are now hoping to capture the Senate in order to hedge against a possible victory by President Trump. Controlling both the House and the Senate would effectively tie Trump’s hands on major issues and reopen avenues to his impeachment and removal from office.
Tillis easily survived a Primary Election challenge but has angered some of his Republican base, who don’t think he’s quite conservative enough. That’s made him the underdog, despite his incumbency and Trump’s endorsement. He’s trailed in polls since at least June.
That being said, a victory by his challenger, Democrat Cal Cunningham, would still be considered an upset and would add to the likelihood of Dems taking the Senate in November.
Meet the candidates
CAL CUNNINGHAM
• Age: 46 • Residence: Wake County • Occupation: Attorney, VP and general counsel of a recycling company • Political experience: Former state senator, unsuccessful campaign for U.S.
Senate in 2010
THOM TILLIS
• Age: 59 • Residence: Huntersville • Occupation: Tech/insurance consultant • Political experience: Four-term N.C.
House rep, first-term U.S. Senator
Conversely, Republicans are desperate to prevent that from happening, and Tillis’ seat is as important as any in the fight to maintain a hedge of their own in the legislative branch, especially if Trump loses.
Cunningham was given multiple opportunities to answer questions posed by The Smoky Mountain News over a period of more than three weeks, but was unable to find 20 minutes to talk to the voters of Western North Carolina. He failed to make himself available for a previously scheduled phone
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TILLIS, CONTINUED FROM 13 call on Oct. 2, and a campaign spokesman said on Oct. 5 that Cunningham — who’s recently come under fire for sexting a political consultant who is not his wife — would not make himself available for questions.
When asked why, no response was given, however Sen. Tillis, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and the Committee on the Judiciary, availed himself of the opportunity prior to his COVID-19 diagnosis.
Smoky Mountain News: From the perspective of a United States Senator, what’s the most important issue facing North Carolina today?
Thom Tillis: Obviously the health care threat is something that we have to keep an eye on, but I think the longer-term consequences of continued shutdown — schools being shut down — when we believe that there’s a safe way to reopen, it’s a key issue. That’s why I voted for the follow-up to this CARES Act, because we’ve got a cliff that we’re going to run over for unemployment benefits. For businesses out in the mountain areas in particular, some of the travel and tourism businesses that were first in, they’re going to be last out.
I’ve voted for the bill and Cal Cunningham said he would have voted against it. I think it’s really continuing to maintain capacity for people who are affected with COVID, but we’ve got a lot of victims of COVID who never got the virus. We’ve got to recognize that opening is a key part of getting rid of social isolation. [We’re] seeing an increase in suicides and an increase in domestic violence and child abuse. I’m not saying that all of the increases are related to COVID, but it really started spiking when COVID started spiking.
SMN: During your first debate, Cunningham made some headlines he may not have anticipated, about his hesitancy to take a coronavirus vaccine. What was it that surprised you about his response?
TT: To be honest with you, that was not even a position that I anticipated when I was preparing for the debate.
I mean, for Cal Cunningham to go on stage and say that he would be hesitant to take the vaccine, I mean, that’s an insult to the nearly 100,000 people who are enrolled in clinical tri-
als right now. These are people who are willing to take the vaccine, half get placebos, half get the vaccine and go through those trials. So that was an insult to them. And it’s also an insult to the gold standard for drug approval, the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies and the research institutions like Chapel Hill and Wake Forest, that are involved in clinical trials. What he basically says is he doesn’t have confidence in Chapel Hill, Wake Forest and the scientific community, they’re not going to release the vaccine until it’s safe. So it’s an
— Sen. Thom Tillis
insult to people in the clinical trials, it’s undermining the credibility of worldrenowned institutions and it could take people away from being willing to take the vaccine when we need 60 percent of the population to either have immunity from getting the virus and recovering, or by taking a vaccine. I thought it was irresponsible. I know he tried to walk it back like he does so many things. He’s against something before he’s for it. What he did was irresponsible.
SMN: How do you feel about the president’s handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic?
TT: I think the president took a very important step implementing the travel ban from Wuhan and from China. Early on, he was criticized for it. Nancy Pelosi, six weeks, seven weeks later was still saying, ‘Chinatown is open in San Francisco.’ [New York City Mayor Bill] DeBlasio was saying ‘New York’s open for business.’ This is the first of its kind in our lifetimes. We haven’t had a pandemic for a hundred years. I use the comparison of a governor responding to a hurricane, and it’s every bit as unpredictable as a hurricane. You’re going to make one decision that proves to be not the best one. You make another decision, but the last thing anybody
Tillis announces positive COVID-19 test
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced last week that he’d tested positive for coronavirus, joining President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and several other prominent legislative-branch Republicans in sharing the diagnosis.
On Oct. 2, Tillis said via Twitter that he felt good and had experienced no symptoms. He also issued the following statement:
Over the last few months, I’ve been routinely tested for COVID-19, including testing negative last Saturday, but tonight my rapid antigen test came back positive. I will be following the recommendations of my doctor and will be self-isolating at home for 10 days and notifying those I’ve been in close contact with. Thankfully, I have no symptoms and I feel well. As we all know, COVID-19 is a very contagious and deadly virus, especially because many carriers are asymptomatic. I encourage all North Carolinians to follow the recommendations of medical experts, including wearing a mask, washing hands, and practicing social distancing. For any North Carolinian who believes they were exposed to the virus or starts to display symptoms, please call your doctor, self-isolate, and get tested to protect those around you.
should be doing is criticizing any leader of any political affiliation at this time.
When we had the ventilator shortage, the president mobilized the Defense Production Act. He used that several times for personal protective equipment. The administration drove the project at warp speed to try and get a vaccine done in record time. Beginning in October, we’re going to be up to about 50 million test capacity a month, and that will spike up to 100 million. You’ve got to look at the whole. You can pick any one thing that in retrospect or in hindsight you may have done differently but that’s what’s wrong with some of the positions Cunningham took, to criticize the president for doing the travel ban.
SMN: Perhaps the biggest difference between the two of you is experience, specifically in foreign policy. Can a challenger come in to the Senate and be prepared to deal with that aspect of American government?
TT: There are a lot of positions that make me think that he’s not qualified, but foreign policy or national security is probably first among them, which is shocking for someone who served in the Army Reserves. I mean, for Cal Cunningham to criticize President Trump for taking out General [Quasem] Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Quds force — responsible for hundreds of deaths in Iraq — for [Cunningham] to literally go to the till …
I saw an ad I hadn’t seen before saying that I would be soft on Russia and Russian bounties when the head of Central Command, a four-star Marine general, said there’s no credible evidence and that they’re continuing to look at it [and] if there is, they have to be held accountable. [Cunningham] is supporting [former vice president and current presidential candidate Joe] Biden, who has been weak on China. He’s supporting Biden who when he was in the [Obama] administration was weak on NATO, not having them pay their fair share. I think there’s a whole lot of reasons — it’s either inexperience, or it’s even worse than that. Let’s say that he does have the experience, and he’s still taking these extreme positions.
SMN: If foreign policy is among most important differences between you and your opponent, what’s the next most important one?
TT: I think it comes down to Cal Cunningham’s track record. When you’re running for the state Senate and you make a pledge not to raise taxes, and then you turn around and months later after you’re elected you raise taxes by a billion dollars at the height of a recession. I made a pledge if we got a majority at the height of the recession, that we were going to cut taxes. Cal Cunningham’s talking about supporting the Green New Deal. That’s increasing taxes, increasing regulations at a time when businesses are struggling. Cal will say anything to get elected and then he turns around breaks pledges and breaks promises. And I haven’t. Look at my record. Any pledge I’ve made, any promise I’ve made, I fulfilled it when I was speaker [of the N.C. House] and I went up to Washington and I did the same thing.
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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER
Even though it’s largely a ceremonial post, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor has an important role in state government — especially when the governor is from the other party.
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is now running for governor, has spent the last four years exerting influence in the legislature and championing a number of conservative causes that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper doesn’t support. That’s a stark contrast from Forest’s first four years in the position, when fellow Republican Pat McCrory served as governor and the two worked closely.
Forest’s run — announced back in January, 2019 — leaves the seat open this November, and candidates from both parties emerged in droves for the Primary Election.
Democrats fielded six, including Asheville Sen. Terry Van Duyn and Raleigh legislator Yvonne Holley. Holley prevailed in the primary, but Van Duyn did well enough to call for a runoff.
She didn’t, telling The Smoky Mountain News on March 10, “The poll that we did indicated that I’d have to raise significant money, and to take more money out of my community didn’t make sense to me. I just feel that it’s no longer the highest and best use of those investments.”
That cleared the way for Holley to focus on her Republican opponent, Greensboro gun rights advocate Mark Robinson, who avoided a runoff by beating eight other Republicans including then-Sen. Andy Wells and current State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson.
Much has been made of the fact that Holley and Robinson are Black — thereby guaranteeing that for the very first time North Carolina will have a Black lieutenant governor. However, their respective political philosophies are yet another reminder that the Black vote isn’t as homogeneous as some would like to believe.
Ultimately, the legacy of North Carolina’s next lieutenant governor will be more about who’s governor than about the political leanings of the winner, but they’ll still have to deal with pandemic management, calls for police reform, and every other issue state government takes up during its normal course of business, during a very abnormal time.
The Smoky Mountain News: When we last spoke during the Primary Election, COVID-19 wasn’t even a thing. Are you satisfied with the way Gov. Roy Cooper has handled the pandemic?
Yvonne Holley: I couldn’t be more proud of Gov. Cooper. The move that he made was based upon science and trying to save the lives of people in North Carolina. And it was not an easy decision to make. We have not been hit nearly as hard as some of the other states and other places because of his leadership and erring on the side of life, as opposed to just opening everything up.
Yvonne Holley
I talk about the three things that we can take personal responsibility for — we can wash our hands regularly, we can social distance and go out when only when it’s necessary and we wear a mask. I wear a mask out of respect for you and your life. And I hope that you would choose to wear a mask.
Mark Robinson: Absolutely not. As far as shutting down businesses, making a mask mandate, those things go against the fundamental principles in our state and our country of individual liberties. They want folks to wear a mask and that should be up to individuals if they want to wear a mask.
He also made a huge misstep and stepped over people’s constitutional rights when they shut down churches and didn’t allow churches to assemble. That was one of the most egregious things of this entire debacle. And it got to the point where, you know, they actually had to file suit against the governor so the people would have their first amendment rights to assemble peacefully for the purposes of practicing their religion.
The worst part of all of it has been the virus has been most deadly for the elderly and the places where the elderly are most vulnerable. We’ve seen nursing homes, and I have not seen the governor do anything on that end, as far as protecting nursing homes, stepping up, making sure that we put things in place where nursing homes are protected across the board. Take a look, a good strong look at nursing homes that maybe are not in the best of shape.
SMN: Polling suggests Cooper will likely win re-election. Let’s say that happens. How do you plan to influence Gov. Cooper or the General Assembly as we move forward in managing this pandemic?
MR: All of the things that we just mentioned, we want to avoid. Number one, violating people’s constitutional rights. Number two, we want to allow business owners — and here’s the big thing — if we allow them to operate their businesses freely, they will take care of their employees and their customers. Gyms
Mark Robinson
Meet the candidates
YVONNE HOLLEY
• Age: 68 • Residence: Raleigh • Occupation: Retired procurement contract specialist with N.C. Department of
Administration • Political experience: Four-term N.C.
House rep
MARK KEITH ROBINSON
• Age: 51 • Residence: Colfax • Occupation: Manufacturing • Political experience: First campaign
can do it. Bars can do it. Theaters can do it. Restaurants can do it. I have faith that North Carolinians can do that. Apparently, our governor does not. I think that’s the message that needs to be taken to our General Assembly.
YH: We need to find better and more ways of trying to safely open up things. And I think a lot of things have become a lot safer. I’ve been to restaurants and getting carry out and I see them in business again, and I think that’s great. I like some of the outdoor-ness of what people are doing. I see more people walking and doing things riding bicycles and doing that a lot of outdoor activities and a lot of family stuff that they wouldn’t have been doing before. So there’s some positives that come out of this that I’d like to see continue. I would love for us to help the small businesses more and help them get back on their feet.
of ink is police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.
YH: First of all, black lives matter. As an African American, I’m very proud of the young people who have taken up the mantle to fight for civil rights and justice. Racism and these indiscretions didn’t just start with the police. It’s been the policing and the ability to video tape that has brought it to people’s attention, but we kill more Black people through health care. Look at the numbers just COVID has brought out. When this COVID is over, and that moratorium on evictions is lifted, we’re going to see homelessness we’ve never seen before, and we need to address it.
I put a bill in trying to get some state funding to help with rents and foreclosure money to make sure that people who got hit by this pandemic and lost their jobs don’t lose their homes. It was ignored by the Republicans and wouldn’t even come out of committee, which really disappointed me. I do know there’s been some federal money that has been allocated for this, but it is nearly not enough. We have problems statewide not just in urban areas, but rural areas as well.
MR: There is absolutely no reason for us to be calling for this massive amount of police reform. It is ridiculous. When you look at the numbers, when you look at the number of times that police officers come in contact with citizens on a daily basis in this nation, compared to the amount of times that those things have come to violence or death our police departments in this state and our municipalities do a wonderful job and those numbers are very small. There’s no reason for us to be calling for this massive amount of police reform.
Of course, we’re going to have incidents that need to be evaluated. We’re going to have incidents like George Floyd, where the police officer, it appears he was completely in the wrong. We need to handle those things and they need to be properly adjudicated. People need to be properly punished. But there’s no reason for us to have these massive calls for police reform. The police don’t need to be under a microscope because of these small incidences of violence that we see. What we really need to be doing in my opinion is we need to be partnered with the police.
SMN: When people talk about the value of Black lives, often you’ll hear the complaint that abortion is the biggest killer of Black people in this nation. Do you agree with that?
MR: It’s odd that many of these folks on the other side of the aisle lament about the numbers of Black men that are murdered by police officers every year, [but then] mock us for calling attention to the fact that Planned Parenthood historically was created to all but wipe out the Black race and that most of their clinics, some 78 percent of their clinics, are located in minority neighborhoods. They mock us for pointing this out, for standing up for Black lives as they are being taken on the
· BY JONATHAN AUSTIN ·
Susan Austin was 56 when she saw an ad on television about how women should be doing self-exams to see if they can find lumps in their breasts.
“It was October and a breast self-exam commercial came on, because it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” she said. “I got up right then. I went to the shower and did a breast check.”
She found a lump. She’d had her annual mammogram, but now, there it was; a large lump in her left breast. “I didn't have to press deeply, it was obvious. It was a very large lump. It stuck out in my breast, and felt like a wart,” she said.
Fear gripped her. She knew her mother had dealt with breast cancer, and a friend had died when her breast cancer could not be controlled with standard treatment. “It was very scary. My knees were weak,” she said.
I’m Susan’s husband. That day she told me what she found. We agreed that she needed to immediately address her concern.
“I called my doctor, and he scheduled an appointment for me to come in,” Susan said. “He agreed I had a lump, and sent me to get an ultrasound mammogram at Haywood Regional Medical Center. He was supportive but said we needed to wait for the results.”
“They also did a needle biopsy in outpatient surgery, and the results were that I had breast cancer. It was in the left breast and in the lymph nodes under my armpit, which meant a stage 3 diagnosis, because it had spread,” she said.
“Within a week I was in surgery to have that left breast and the lymph nodes removed. Initially the right breast wasn't involved,” Susan said. “Afterward I was in pain, and I was saddened.”
It felt like an important part of her life had been cut away.
“I healed well, then I began six months of chemotherapy and then 28 days of radiation treatment,” she said.
The doctors at the radiation center in
Clyde selected a specific mix of chemo for Susan. It was called ‘The Red Devil.’
“Nobody ever tells you how the Red Devil is just the hardest chemo,” Susan said. “That’s when I lost my hair. My hair was coming out, so a friend cut it all off.”
In support, I also shaved my head. Susan and I were equally bald. However, mine began growing in again, while her head remained bare. The solution, as every woman who has had chemotherapy knows, is to get a wig.
“There’s a place in North Asheville, a wig store for cancer patients, and I picked out a wig that resembled my natural hair,” Susan said. Nonetheless, there is no denying the mental impact of everything: surgery, weakness, fear, losing your hair. “It’s depressing, because I knew I was bald,” Susan said.
Susan still had her right breast and had received a knitted prosthetic to put in her bra to simulate the missing left breast. “The prosthetic has a funny name, knitted knocker, made by a group of women who understand what is missing and want to provide some solace,” she said.
Yet Susan still felt awkward, onebreasted, out of balance. She also feared the return of cancer.
“I had a conversation with my surgeon about taking the other breast, because that would mean no more breast cancer. I thought I still had a target on my chest. My children told me I didn’t need them anymore, if I wanted to get rid of the one that remained,” she said. “Jonathan and everyone were supportive of me doing what I felt I needed to do,” she said.
So that's what we did.
“But I miss my breasts,” Susan said. “I
don’t feel comfortable. I think I was 12 when I got a bra, and I was in my upper 50s when I had my cancer surgery. It was not easy to decide to have the other one removed, but I came to believe it was the best thing to do,” she said.
Susan knows the surgery saved her life, and she is forever thankful to the doctors and support staff who accompanied her through the battle.
She also has advice for women of all ages. “Do a breast check, every month, because it can arrive fast and furious. I had mammograms once a year, but this just popped up. Take care of yourself. Check your breasts.”
Editor’s note: For the complete version of this article, visit www.smokymountainnews.com/rumble/item/29961.
The Team
Digital Media Specialist Susanna Shetley (from left), SMN News Editor Jessi Stone, Graphic Designer Jessica Murray, and Staff Writer Hannah McLeod
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LT. GOV., CONTINUED FROM 17 street. They mock us for standing up for Black lives in the womb. So we have to wonder who it is that’s actually concerned about Black lives.
YH: Health care is health care and a woman’s right to make her personal decision about her body and to have access to quality care is critical. A lot of these facilities are located in communities of people who don’t have the funds to get the private doctor to do it or to serve them in that kind of way. Black women need access to affordable quality health care, period.
SMN: Earlier this year, counties across the state passed so-called “Second Amendment sanctuary” resolutions despite calls for gun control by some. What are your feelings on red flag laws?
YH: I’m definitely for red flag laws which are for when people are in crisis. When you have a family member or someone who’s going through a mental health crisis and they are in trouble, that is where a judge will make the decision about how to handle that situation. It’s not intended to permanently take your guns away. It’s when you are in this cri-
— Mark Robinson
sis, let’s take a look at what we can do to keep you from harming anybody else plus yourself. And that to me is what red flag laws are. A lot of times when you are not thinking rationally, and there’s domestic abuse and that weapon is there, there’s a tendency to use it and act upon an emotion in a rage, or unrest within yourself where you aren’t thinking as clear as you would otherwise. So I do believe that there’s a place for red flag laws, a definite place for red flag laws and it should only be done by the court system. It should not be “Oh, go get his gun because he looked at me wrong.” that’s an abuse of the system.
MR: My opponent claims that she’s for the Second Amendment. I don’t necessarily believe that. She’s a champion of what we call “red flag laws.”
Red flag laws will be used to violate the constitutional rights of gun owners across this state, across this nation, and they’re a nogo. We see that now. We have protective orders that people can get. If we’re being honest with ourselves, we see the way protective orders are abused every day in this country, against people where people go down and file false protective orders against people, and people are put out their own homes and their own apartments over false protective orders and thrown into all types of situations. The
— Yvonne Holley
same thing will be done if we do this, these red flag laws. People will go down and make erroneous claims against gun owners, they’ll have their guns taken away by a gun-grabbing sheriff, and there’s no telling when they’ll be able to get those guns back. It’s funny that the people want to have red flag laws are also the people who want to defund the police.
SMN: No matter who wins, North Carolina will for the very first time have a Black lieutenant governor come January. What does that mean to you?
MR: It means a lot to me. It’s, not only the knowledge that I am building a legacy for myself and my family, but it’s also about changing the narrative in this state — in this nation — that the Republican Party is the party of freedom and true equality and always has been. The conservative principles that we believe in, that our party believes in, are what we adhere to in order to move forward and to support progress in this state. I think it means a great deal. It will definitely push back against the narrative that the Republican Party is the party of old, rich white men, which is definitely not true. We saw that during the Republican convention, and I think by winning this seat, we can prove it.
YH: I’m a child of the sixties and I fought for civil rights all my life. I am disappointed that we are having to relive some of the same battles that I fought as a young person. I would be honored and privileged to be the first African American to be lieutenant governor, but that’s not why I chose to run. I am the most competent and capable person for the job. Experienced and ready for the job. I just happen to be African American.
@Smoky MtnNews
“Both my wife and I are products of our great public schools and universities, as well as my children. Both of my parents were lifelong teachers right here in these mountains. So I know personally that strong public schools are the backbone of our community” -Joe Sam Queen
In the State House Joe Sam will,
• Work to increase funding for local schools, especially early childhood education • Raise teacher pay and give school staff the resources they need • Improve access to our community colleges allowing everyone to get the workforce training they need • Support our great universities, the engines of a 21st century economy
