If Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy wants to challenge Richard Burr for U.S. Senate next year, he knows he has to finalize his decision soon.
“It’s definitely time to be planning for a campaign,” Foy said.
Though his candidacy still isn’t official, Foy said he’s talked to about 100 people — friends and political forces around the state — to plant seeds for a Senate campaign.
“Some of them are pretty enthusiastic,” Foy said. “Others say, ‘Really sit down and think about this. It’s going to be a lot of work.’”
The work is raising money, which could prove to be a challenge for a newcomer to state politics.
But it’s a wide-open race right now on the Democratic side with no big names talking seriously about running, said Raleigh-based Democratic strategist Gary Pearce.
“The way politics is today, it’s sort of unknown,” he said. “It’s unknown who’s going to make it in statewide politics. I could get in there.”
Being mayor of a medium-sized town might not be a disadvantage, said Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Public Life.
“Everybody begins, ‘Oh, it’s local Chapel Hill, nobody has a chance,’” he said. “Chapel Hill is not an isolated area. It’s part of a big metropolitan area.”
It’s still the money that makes the name, Pearce said. Foy said he hasn’t started raising it yet, though some have told him they’ll contribute if he makes his decision official.
Pearce used John Edwards as an example of money’s effect. He was unknown statewide before his campaign for U.S. Senate in 1998. But $6 million later, he won the seat.
“I don’t think any of these candidates have the money for that,” Pearce said. “But if it’s a wide-open race with people like Kevin Foy, (Durham lawyer) Kenneth Lewis and (former N.C. Sen.) Cal Cunningham, all will have about the same fundraising power.”
Foy’s pitch: there’s only so much he can do from his office in Chapel Hill and as the chairman of the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition.
“This state deserves to have a solid representative that can help us maintain our economic growth, our quality of life here, our physical structure and our environment,” Foy said.
He said he wants light rail systems in the Triangle, the Triad and Mecklenburg County, he said.
Pearce said he’s surprised the race hasn’t started heating up — it takes a long time to organize a campaign.
“It’s past time,” he said.
Foy said he doesn’t have a decision deadline, but he’ll allow enough time to prepare for a May primary.
“It’s not too early to start planning,” he said.
Contact the City Editorat citydesk@unc.edu.
