In first bid for office, Eastman hopes differences help her stand out in GOP field

Marjorie Eastman joined the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in October, much later than the top candidates in keeping with a theme of trying to differentiate herself from the three men atop the polls.

Unlike the male front-runners in the race, Eastman is a military veteran, has never held an elected office and has a 9-year-old son in the public school system.

“Those other three guys are all career politicians. Voters can sense from me immediately, I’m a political outsider. I’m the only veteran and I’m the only mom in this race. I can talk with parents, especially about the issues our children are facing throughout this pandemic,” Eastman said in a January interview with The News & Observer.

U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, former Gov. Pat McCrory and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker have consistently polled well above the rest of the field, including Eastman, in the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican. Eastman did enjoy a small bump in her polling numbers to around 4% earlier in the year, which got her into debates and forums with the others.

Eastman, 42, served combat tours as an intelligence officer and commander in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was awarded a Bronze Star and wrote a 2016 book about her service. She holds an MBA from Vanderbilt and a master’s degree in international security.

Eastman said the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, during which 13 service members were killed, led her to get into the race in a state with almost 700,000 military veterans. She said former Sen. Jesse Helms, a World War II veteran, was the last North Carolina senator with military experience. There are 24 military veterans in the current 100-member Senate.

“To have a senator that understands that is important,” she said. “It’s an essential part of who we are. I love the fact that I served my county, that I’m a military spouse as well. I’ve already had skin in the game for my country. There’s something to that that can never be replicated.”

Outsider, newcomer?

Eastman met her husband — a retired Army Ranger and pilot who served 17 tours in the Middle East — while stationed at Fort Bragg in the early 2000s. They moved to Cary in 2018.

McCrory questioned Eastman about being “new” to North Carolina and new to the Republican Party during a February debate in Raleigh. Eastman went right back at McCrory, mentioning that in the military you don’t get to choose where you live and saying she found it “insulting.” It was one of the few standout moments of the debate, outside of attacks on Budd, who was not there.

Eastman has only voted in the 2020 general election in the state, according to voter information on the State Board of Elections website. She changed her voter registration from unaffiliated to Republican in August 2021, according to state records, just weeks before entering the primary.

Being an outsider was a common theme in many of her answers in the Feb. 26 debate.

“The root of all of these crises is one thing: Failed leadership because of career politicians. We will not get different results if we do not send different people,” Eastman said.

Eastman pledged to serve just two terms.

In addition to national security, Eastman said she would focus on the economy and education as a senator. In the debate, she invoked former President Ronald Reagan and called herself “a conservative who believes in limited and better government, free markets and peace through strength.” At other times, she has described herself as North Carolina’s version of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a political outsider who rode dissatisfaction over education policies to a surprising victory in 2021.

Help for Eastman’s campaign

Eastman has raised more than $635,000 for her campaign and loaned the campaign another $160,000 through the end of March, according to FEC reports. She has also gotten some outside support. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and a military veteran, endorsed her campaign and held a fundraiser for Eastman in North Carolina.

North Carolina voters have elected two women to the U.S. Senate in history.

Restore Common Sense PAC has spent more than $2 million in support of Eastman so far. The political action committee is solely funded by Fred Eshelman, an investment company founder involved in health care companies. He contributed $1.75 million to the PAC as of the end of December. The UNC School of Pharmacy is named after Eshelman.

Club For Growth, by contrast, has pledged to spend $14 million to back Budd in the primary.

This story was originally published April 24, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "In first bid for office, Eastman hopes differences help her stand out in GOP field."