Who had the better night in NC’s first U.S. Senate debate?
First debates are critical in elections, especially in down-ballot races where more voters have less of a fully formed opinion about candidates. So notable moments can carry outsized importance, because early impressions count. There was one such moment in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate debate between Thom Tillis and Cal Cunningham, and as often happens with debates, it was a flub.
In a back-and-forth about COVID-19, Democratic candidate Cal Cunningham said he would be “hesitant” to take a coronavirus vaccine this year because of “political and financial corruption” in Washington. It was the kind of fretting you find on social media or let slip in casual conservation with like-minded friends. But it’s not the kind of thing you say in a purple state U.S. Senate debate — at least not without a thorough explanation of your hesitancy with a possibly rushed vaccine.
Tillis pounced on the remark, calling it irresponsible and using it as an opportunity to be the adult in the room. His political team quickly launched a volley of emails and social media posts, and as expected, Cunningham’s vaccine hesitancy was the takeaway headline for North Carolina media.
It wasn’t a fatal flub for the challenger, who smartly backtracked before the end of the night. But it was the kind of debate mistake you don’t see from a seasoned politician like, say, Thom Tillis. That, too, is the kind of takeaway that’s important in first debates.
Tillis, in contrast, calmly executed his debate game plan. You may have recognized the Republican on the debate stage Monday. It was the Tillis of 2014, the one who came from humble upbringings and wants to work across the aisle to get things done for North Carolinians. And why not? It’s a formula that helped Tillis six years ago when he unseated incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan.
Yes, the Tillis-as-centrist narrative sets eyes rolling for folks who’ve been paying attention to his first Senate term, not to mention his role in yanking the N.C. General Assembly to the right as House Speaker. But Tillis wasn’t interested Tuesday in changing progressive minds — or independents who are mad at him for not standing up to President Donald Trump. Tillis needs to persuade the persuadable, including people who haven’t been following him as closely.
On Monday, he did a solid job of that. He expressed comfort about mail-in voting, a departure from the president. He acknowledged systemic racism and the need to “work on it,” a departure from many in his party. He appeared in large part the reasonable conservative, the kind who might be successful and influential in a party that wasn’t prostrate to Donald Trump.
It was Cunningham’s mission to remind voters of that GOP dynamic. Cunningham’s best debate moments came early when he forcefully called out Trump for his response to COVID-19. He also drove home Washington’s failure on health care, a particular weakness for Tillis and Republicans. But he appeared uncomfortable at times and more importantly spent too little time reminding voters why Tillis has a woeful approval rating — that he has frequently and sometimes comically been unwilling to perform his duty as a check on the president.
Why didn’t Cunningham go there very much? A Democratic operative told me Monday night that with polls showing Tillis underperforming Trump in North Carolina, tying the senator to the president might actually help Tillis. Focusing on health care and COVID may be Cunningham’s best way to gather up independents without alienating Trump voters.
That strategy comes with a risk. This race has long been a referendum on Thom Tillis, not Cal Cunningham. On Monday, the Republican got to define himself to those just tuning in, and the Democrat was left defending his own rookie mistake, not his opponent’s.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 9:14 AM.