By Kirk Ross
For a while there a real primary contest was brewing for Democrats in North Carolina’s Fourth U.S. Congressional District. Had Rep. Brad Miller, who was moved into the Fourth via redistricting, opted to challenge incumbent David Price, it would have been a heck of a primary fight. But Miller, who seriously considered the idea, put it to rest in an announcement last month.
Price, shooting for his 13th term, can breathe a little easier with no primary to worry about. He’s also sitting in a much more favorable district, with the Fourth now packed with Democratic voters via the GOP-led redistricting strategy.
The Chapel Hill Democrat will still get out and press the flesh. Ever since he lost by fewer than 1,000 votes in 1994, Price has not been one to be cavalier about campaigning, even in a year as promising as this one.
He’s also got a lot of new ground to cover, as the newly drawn district runs from Burlington to Fayetteville, including most of southern Orange and southwestern Durham counties, along with contiguous swatches of Lee, Chatham, Moore and Cumberland counties. Had these lines existed in 2008, Barack Obama would have taken NC-4 with 72 percent of the vote to John McCain’s 27 percent. In the old NC-4, the 2008 election split was 62/37.
Vying for the opportunity to face Price in the general election are Republicans Tim D’Annunzio of Raeford, George Frank Hutchins of Raleigh and Jim Allen of Burlington.
D’Annunzio is a businessman who operates, in Hoke County, one of the world’s largest free-fall simulators. Of the three candidates, he has the most resources, and loaned himself $300,000 in an unsuccessful run in 2010 against Democratic Rep. Larry Kissel in NC-8.
Most projections show NC-4 as solidly Democratic. So does the money race. Price has raised $547,000 and has $229,000 on hand. It’s a long way until Election Day, but so far it’s looking like that dynamic isn’t going to change much. Republican resources are more likely to be concentrated on races where redistricting makes it more possible for them to pick up seats. These include Miller’s district (NC-13), NC-11 – further in play due to Rep. Heath Shuler’s decision not to run again – and NC-8, where the latest polls show that unseating Kissel may be more difficult than it looks on paper.
But wait – there’s more.
Orange County is split between two congressional districts for the first time since the early 1990s, when a sliver of the northernmost portion of the county was part of the notoriously gerrymandered NC-12. The district was eventually ordered redrawn after a legal challenge that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
The most recent redistricting shifted seven of Orange County’s voting precincts — Efland, Cedar Grove, Tolars, Caldwell, Cameron Park, Saint Mary’s and Eno — out of NC-4 and into NC-6, which is represented by Republican Rep. Howard Coble.
Coble has held his seat for 14 terms, and the possibility that he might finally retire was fueled by an extended hospital stay last December. After a handful of challengers said they’d be delighted to step into the race, Coble announced he was fit to run and intended to do so.
Facing Coble in the primary are Bill Flynn, a former morning talk show host who lives in Oak Ridge, and Bill Yow, a Guilford County commissioner who lives in Greensboro.
In the fall, the winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Tony Foriest of Graham. Foriest served as state senator for an Alamance County-based district from 2006 to 2010, when he was defeated in the GOP surge that took control of the senate.