NC-Sen, NC-02: Etheridge Taking Another Look at Senate Race

Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge has been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate since Attorney General Roy Cooper passed on the race, but he never appeared to show much interest in challenging Richard Burr. It looks like he’s giving the race a closer look after being pressed by the DSCC in recent days. From the News & Observer:

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said today that he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, said he has been courted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a potential candidate, reports Rob Christensen.

“I’m evaluating it,” Etheridge said during a meeting Wednesday with reporters and editors at The News & Observer.

Etheridge said he met recently with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and had discussions with family members and a few key supporters. Etheridge said he hoped to make a decision by September.

Etheridge would be a pretty decent candidate for this race, though I wouldn’t relish defending his open R+2 seat — especially if the wind is blowing against us next year. Obama did actually carry Etheridge’s district by a 52-47 margin according to SSP’s Prez-by-CD analysis, but Bush won the district by eight points in 2004 and seven points when Al Gore was on the ballot.

Etheridge has a bit of money in the kitty — just shy of $900K — and has the potential to raise a bunch more from his perch on Ways and Means. This seems to be a top concern for the DSCC, as the organization hasn’t been rushing to embrace the potential candidacy of NC SoS Elaine Marshall, perhaps in part due to her fundraising difficulties during her last Senate primary campaign.

RaceTracker Wiki: NC-Sen

37 thoughts on “NC-Sen, NC-02: Etheridge Taking Another Look at Senate Race”

  1. from the RTP/Charlotte/Greensboro regions who can run up the score in these “new economy” areas and also by run up the score with blacks can win the state?

    I’m sick of nominating candidates in states like VA and NC who have to kiss the behind of conservative rural areas which are shrinking.  Kay Hagan was a good example of such a candidate.

    Obama didn’t win VA and NC by courting conservative rural areas, he won these states in the high-tech areas of No Va and RTP/Charlotte/Greensboro.

  2. No interest in nominating someone like this would likely lose unless everything was right for us and would likely cause us to lose his House seat as well.  I am more than fine with Marshall or Cunningham.

  3. I’m more than willing to put a couple more house seats in play if it means we can keep up some serious pressure on the Repubs in the senate.  Since we can’t exactly get better Democrats this time around hopefully more Democrats can make up for the failure of this current Senate to do anything worthwhile.  

    Of course, if Marshall gets in and shows any kind of good showing before September, Etheridge needs to stay right where he is.  

    We do not need another Sestak on our hands damaging our chances to win.  

  4. Eyeballing the State Senate and State House seats it looks like we’re about even or slightly ahead of the Repubs just in terms of legislators who live in the district, but who are the heavy hitters?

  5. While coattails are nice, I don’t see the relevance of his vote totals among whites in the rural South.

    The name at the top of the ticket in NC will be our Senate candidate, not President Obama.

  6. A little too conservative for my liking, but he’s better than most of the alternatives I’ve heard for this seat.

    I remember some scuttlebutt about Rep. Grier Martin running for this seat, whatever happened to that?

Comments are closed.