Foy could appeal in U.S. Senate race

If he reaches enough voters and swings his message right, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy could have a chance in the 2010 U.S. Senate race, recent polling indicates.

To defeat U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., in next year’s election, he will need to be briefed on national issues and raise enough money to buy TV ads in key parts of the state, said Tom Jensen, communications director of Public Policy Polling, which took the poll.

But before all that, he would have to definitively say he’s running for Senate within the next month.

“I’m not ready to say, ‘Oh, yes, I’m going to do this,’” Foy said Thursday. “I need other people who think it’s a good idea and are willing to step up and support me so I’m able to project a path toward winning.”

In a recent telephone poll conducted between Oct. 2 and 4, 29 percent of respondents said they would prefer Foy to Burr, while 45 percent said they would vote for Burr over Foy. The remaining 26 percent said they were undecided.

His polling numbers are in a range similar to Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., at this time in her race for U.S. Senate last election cycle.

Foy’s assets are his connections through chairmanship of the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition and through his work with transportation and infrastructure, said Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Public Life.

The residents of the state are increasingly centered in urban areas compared to rural areas — a trend that makes Foy more viable as a candidate than he would have been just a few years ago, Jensen said.

The fastest growing Congressional districts in the country are in the Charlotte metropolitan area and the western Triangle area, according to a study by the Program on Public Life.

“I have a structure to work from,” Foy said.

Foy has met with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to discuss their role in campaigns in North Carolina, he said.

The committee spent money promoting Hagan in last year’s race. But that was in a different political climate, Guillory said. The party had fully backed Hagan, while this race has no clear winner yet. Democrats will no longer be the opposition party.

Some other potential candidates included in the poll have bigger names in state politics, but the voting public still will not have heard of them, Guillory said.

Burr’s numbers are low against any candidate, Guillory said.

“Senator Burr does not have 50 percent against any of them, which is always worrisome for an incumbent,” Guillory said.

Burr already has started campaigning in the state on the weekends and making appearances, Guillory said.

Foy’s “exploratory committee” for a Senate race consists of him and one other person, he said.

“Obviously the sooner I decide, the better,” he said. “I think it’s getting close.”



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