NC Senate race bucks the norm as candidates run polite, ‘positive’ campaigns
In one North Carolina Senate Race in Charlotte, the candidates say only polite things about each other and have stuck to running “positive” campaigns in the final weeks.
News of the candidates’ civility went national this week when Incumbent Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Charlotte, tweeted praise for his GOP opponent, Nora Trotman.
“It feels like our divisions are growing deeper each day,” Jackson tweeted. “So let me just take a moment and commend my opponent on running an honest, positive campaign. She’s a good person and deserves your consideration.”
Jackson’s tweet included a photo of Trotman along with a link to her campaign website. “You can learn more about her here,” Jackson tweeted before the link.
Jackson, a 35-year-old Charlotte lawyer, benefits from being in a heavily Democratic redrawn district where Democrat Hillary Clinton won 75 percent of the vote in 2016. The district runs from central Charlotte to the southwest.
As of their filings in May, Jackson also had much more campaign money on hand -- more than $91,000 compared with Trotman’s $1,289, the Observer reported in a June 18 article. Trotman is 25, with fours years of digital marketing experience.
Still, Jackson’s tweet drew astonished reaction from national political pundits the likes of CNBC’s Rachel Maddow: “Kindness and civility outbreak in North Carolina — nation flabbergasted!” Maddow tweeted.
To which Trotman tweeted: “@maddow A lot of people are running against each other rather than to represent their district. @JeffJacksonNC Happy our race is an exception. We need representatives not politicians!”
On Oct. 19, Trotman tweeted “Congratulations!” on the announcement of the birth of Jackson’s daughter, Avery Bell Jackson.
In an interview Friday, Trotman told The Charlotte Observer: “It’s important to have two people who really want to have a positive (campaign) and not attack each other. I wanted to lead by example.”
“I think it’s just a testament to what he wants to see in Raleigh,” Trotman told the Observer of Jackson’s tweet.