Competitive House District 2 Could Be GOP Pickup | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Leslee Kulba, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Republican Yarborough faces Democrat Jeffers in district bordering Virginia

    RALEIGH — Former Person County Commissioner Larry Yarborough is a small business owner highlighting the need for jobs in his bid to win a seat as a Republican candidate in heavily Democratic House District 2.

    "The biggest issue I'm working on is getting jobs in our community. North Carolina is enjoying economic recovery, but we're not seeing that up here in our rural areas," said Yarborough.

    Yarborough says he supports a program of "all of the above" for helping the economy. As an example, he said, "I'm in favor of deregulation. As a small business owner, I've seen the challenges regulation puts on small businesses."

    Yarborough hopes to succeed Democratic state Rep. W.A. Winkie Wilkins, who has represented the district since 2004. Wilkins took the seat by defeating the more conservative Democrat Jim Crawford after Republicans double-bunked them in the last round of redistricting.

    Wilkins' seat opened this year with an announcement that he would not seek re-election due to health reasons. He endorsed two-term Democratic Person County Commissioner Ray Jeffers in the race to succeed him. Jeffers did not respond to numerous attempts to contact him by phone, email, and through his campaign.

    House District 2, which lies between Durham and Wake counties and the Virginia state line, covers all of Person and southern Granville counties. Overall, its voters champion traditional, conservative values. Registered Democrats account for 48.5 percent of the electorate. Other voters are 26.2 percent Republican and 25 percent unaffiliated.

    The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, which tracks historical voting trends in North Carolina, lists District 2 as competitive, meaning it leans neither to the right nor the left.

    In 2012 voters favored Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with 51.1 percent of the vote over incumbent Democrat Barack Obama, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory with 53.2 percent of the vote. But they voted in larger numbers for Democrats in six of eight Council of State races.

    In general, Yarborough supports the "sweeping changes" brought about by the Republican-controlled legislature. He believes that lawmakers should let the recent tax reform changes ride to determine how they shake out. He adds that in his experience, "it is the federal, not the state taxes, that shape business decisions."

    If elected, he would, "work across the aisle for Medicaid reform, better education, things both parties want to improve," he said.

    He also wants to focus on "justice and public safety, which is the No. 1 thing government does for us." He wants innocent inmates released from death row and argues, "Equal justice is something [for which] both sides have something to offer."

    Yarborough is the owner of MedAccess Urgent Care, the brainchild of his wife and another physician who seized upon a wealth of opportunity for improving emergency care clinics.

    He served on the Person County Board of Commissioners from 2004-08. His resume shows a history of starting small businesses. He graduated from Tulane with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering, and boasts of having contributed to the building of space shuttles, paper mills, and Dacron plants.

    Jeffers lists no occupation outside of his elected position with the Person County Board of Commissioners. He became the state's youngest county commissioner at age 24 when first elected to the board in 2008. Five years later, he became the youngest president of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

    Jeffers attended Piedmont Community College and North Carolina A&T. He worked as an after-school wellness coordinator for the Person County Recreation, Arts, and Parks Department, where he said his interest in public affairs was sparked.

    Both candidates are taking a down-home, emotional strategy for talking to the public.

    Appearing in ads in hunting gear with a dog and a rifle, Jeffers tells constituents, "I learned from my grandmother there are things you want and things you need, and you better know the difference."

    He may also be seen on YouTube training dogs out in the field.

    Yarborough, whose catch phrase is "common sense," tells voters: "It seems like there are tractors everywhere this fall. I am happy for our farmers, who are working hard to bring in a great crop. Whenever somebody in our community prospers, it benefits the entire community."

    Both candidates express concern about constituents having to commute half an hour away, to the south, to work.

    At his swearing-in before the NCACC, Jeffers announced, "My umbrella initiative as president will be examining and enhancing our counties' role in economic development. Coming from a rural county, economic development means something entirely different to me than it does to my friends in urban counties."

    One of Jeffers' ads says he "will bring home the education lottery money we were promised so we can raise teacher pay to the national average, and he'll fight to create 'NC First' incentives so North Carolina businesses get the first crack at state and local contracts."

    In another ad he says he is "fighting to bring over $400 million in new business investments to this area."

    His website states, "As Chairman of the National Association of Counties Rural Action Caucus, he understands the needs of the two rural counties with respect for the need of infrastructure, broadband, job growth, support of the substantial Agricultural community and how they correlate with strong Legislative support."

    In his political ads, Yarborough links Jeffers with the Moral Monday crowd, a liberal protest movement sparked by the state NAACP that he said advocates for "free abortions" and "multiple votes without IDs."

    Jeffers counters by aligning Yarborough with fellow Republicans who "cut education funding to give tax breaks for millionaires."

    Each has criticized the other for missing a filing deadline for their tax returns at one time or another.

    Yarborough had $13,620 campaign cash on hand at the end of June. Jeffers had $1,046.