Jesse Helms Seat Turns Blue

Tue, November 04, 2008 - 8:30 PM

Though the presidential race in North Carolina remains too close to call, every network moments ago called the North Carolina Senate race for Democrat Kay Hagan, who unseated first term Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in a seat held for decades by Jesse Helms.

Six months ago, this seat looked like a lock for Dole. Democrats had a hard time recruiting someone to run against Dole, eventually settling on Hagan who was largely unknown in the state. But Hagan ran an effective campaign, tying Dole to an unpopular President Bush and arguing that she was an ineffective representative for North Carolina, a state she had not lived in for decades before returning in 2002 to run for office. And that argument worked.

--Sean Mussenden