Orange Co. Senate Race Costliest in History

The face-off between longtime Orange County allies Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and Sen. Howard Lee in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary has been deemed the most costly race in the county's history, according to election officials.

Both state senators spent more money on this campaign than on any of their past ones, with Kinnaird spending $69,618 and Lee spending $320,894.

The two senators had campaigned together in a two-member district during previous elections but were forced to run against each other when controversial redistricting led to them being placed into the same single-member district.

Kinnaird defeated Lee in the election by slightly more than 100 votes.

Lee said the additional spending was a result of the intensity of the election. "This election required a lot of communication with the voters," he said. "In both cases, we recognized that the decision would be difficult among our constituents."

Both Lee and Kinnaird reached voters with mailing brochures and radio advertisements. Lee said radio was beneficial but added a lot of unnecessary expense since the advertisements often reached voters outside of Orange and Chatham counties.

Lee said the primary left him $137,000 in debt, which he will have to pay out of his own pocket. "I wish I didn't have the debt, but it was the price I was willing to pay so that I didn't have to look back on the election and have any regrets," he said.

The senators first ran together in 1996, an election cycle during which Kinnaird spent about $30,000 -- about half the amount she invested in her 2002 campaign. Costs were minimal in the 1996 campaign because Kinnaird and Lee ran against two Republicans in what was then a two-member Democratic-leaning district.

"The competition just wasn't there as much in the 1996 election as it was in the 2002 primary against Senator Lee," said Kathie Young, Kinnaird's legislative assistant. "In this primary, the volume of mailed-out advertisements increased because of the shared constituents."

Though Kinnaird did increase campaign spending in the last election, she was able to cut costs on her campaign by setting limits for her supporters, Young said.

"Senator Kinnaird sets a $150 limit per individual per election for her constituents because she is an avid supporter of campaign finance reform," she said. "She also cut costs by only mailing single-sheet brochures and by not having an official campaign stationary."

Lee said campaign excesses could be trimmed if legislative terms were lengthened, allowing politicians to run less frequently.

"Changing the number of years from two to four would drastically reduce the campaign cost for elections," he said. "Voters are cheated because their legislators' attention is diverted from work to campaigning almost immediately when they get into office."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.