Staff Writer
Elections
are taking place on Nov. 4, 2014, and the North Carolina U.S. senate race is
being looked at as one that could decide which party holds the upper chamber. Senator Kay Hagan and Speaker Thom Tillis are
facing off against each other in an extremely close senate race, due in part to
the growing political divide in the country and the state. Of all North Carolina voters, 42% identify as
Democrats and 41% identify as being Republicans. Hagan (D) is running for re-election, while
Tillis (R) is the current state House speaker.
According to a collection of polls compiled and combined by the Huffington Post, Hagan has 45.4% while
Tillis has 41.8%. The remaining points
are either undecided (7.0%) or for Libertarian candidate Sean Hough (5.8%). Political experts are saying that Hough is
creating problems for Tillis by splitting up the Republican vote.
During
the campaign, which is gaining attention for costing around $30 million, Hagan
has focused on criticizing Tillis for his stance on social issues and education,
while Tillis has criticized Hagan for being ineffective in office and being too
loyal to President Barack Obama.
Tillis
was in office when North Carolina passed the ban on gay marriage, which Hagan
is using as an attack point. She has
also said that his record on women’s issues involving contraception is
“abysmal.” The fact that Tillis is backed
by the Koch Brothers, business men from Koch Industries who have already spent
$8 million on attack ads on Hagan, is another talking point for her. She is claiming that Tillis has been
responsible for $500 million worth of education cuts, though Tillis claims that
his policies have resulted in a 7% pay raise for teachers.
Tillis
claims that Hagan flip-flops on key issues, and has made a point that she votes
with President Obama 95% of the time, despite attacking her former opponent
Leslie Dole for voting with the president too often. He mentions that she has introduced no bills
that have been signed into law. He says
that she made empty promises to get elected, and that she isn't following up on
them. In their first debate on October
3, Tillis said that Hagan has settled for “…an economy that’s based on the
minimum wage.”
This
election has found each candidate trying to move themselves more into the
center. Hagan’s ads repeat that she’s
“…not too far left, not too far right.
Just like North Carolina.” She is
marketing herself as a moderate who isn't afraid to vote against her party. Tillis is also trying to seem more open to
compromise. He said that he would not
try to ban contraception. “That’s
absurd. I would never do that. The question I think then had more to with
taxpayer funding,” said Tillis. He is
portraying himself as a working-class American who has realized his dream.
Already,
millions upon millions of dollars have been spent in the election, and experts are
predicting even more spending. However,
with two more debates in October, the candidates will have to wait and see how
the people of North Carolina truly feel.
Key Issues
Senator
Kay Hagan
|
Speaker
Thom Tillis
|
Hagan
supports over-the-counter contraception and insurance coverage for birth
control.
|
Tillis
supports over-the-counter contraception, but does not want insurance coverage
for birth control.
|
Hagan
is for the Affordable Health Care Act, saying that it gets help to more
people who otherwise wouldn't have it.
|
Tillis
is strongly opposed to the act, saying that the previous health care system
worked and that the Affordable Health Care Act is wasting money.
|
Hagan
supports the legalization of gay marriage.
|
Tillis
is against the legalization of gay marriage.
|
Hagan
says that Tillis has policies that don’t support veteran teachers. She says that he has cut $500 million from
the education budget.
|
Tillis
says that education is a top priority, and says that his priorities have
resulted in a 7% pay raise for teachers.
|
Hagan
pushes for immigration reform and has been more willing to support bills that
offer amnesty to current illegals.
|
Tillis
feels that Hagan has been too weak on border control and that there should be
more fencing around the border before we think about immigration reform.
|
