Carolina North Carolina at a Glance State Profile - Gov. Hunt (D) - Sen. Helms (R) - Sen. Edwards (D) Presidential Politics Congressional Districting - 01 - Clayton (D) - 02 - Etheridge (D) - 03 - Jones Jr. (R) - 04 - Price (D) - 05 - Burr (R) - 06 - Coble (R) - 07 - McIntyre (D) - 08 - Hayes (R) - 09 - Myrick (R) - 10 - Ballenger (R) - 11 - Taylor (R) - 12 - Watt (D) Almanac 2000 Home States & Districts Elected Officials For district profiles and additional information on the elected officials of North Carolina, please use the pull-down menu above.

Eastern North Carolina in colonial days was a smaller version of the Chesapeake Bay colonies of Virginia and Maryland--a fertile land laced by dozens of rivers and inlets, with tobacco plantations and farms with docks on the water accessible to the ocean and so to London. North Carolina was settled later than the Chesapeake colonies, and was poorer, with smaller landholdings. But vestiges of its 18th Century past can still be seen in New Bern with its Tryon Palace, the governor's house when this was the capital, and the tiny well-preserved town of Edenton on Albemarle Sound. Today, east Carolina is still tobacco country, indeed the major tobacco-producing land in the United States. It is inhabited almost entirely by the descendants of the original white settlers and black slaves of 250 years ago. They live in small towns and cities and in some of the most thickly-settled rural land in the United States. Tobacco is a labor-intensive crop which can produce yields of $4,000 an acre. A family can make a living off 40 acres of tobacco land and, with a tobacco allotment, many here do. But fewer than in the past. No-smoking laws and anti-smoking campaigns have cut cigarette sales, and many old east Carolina tobacco fields are planted with cucumbers, sweet potatoes and blueberries.

The 1st Congressional District, as redrawn in May 1998, covers much of the tobacco country of inland east Carolina. It touches Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in the east and juts inland to reach black neighborhoods in Greenville and Goldsboro. Although the court that ordered the lines did not rule that the 1st District was unconstitutional, the lines of every district were changed, and about 30% of the residents of the 1st were new to the district. The new lines are less irregular than those of 1992-96, and the district's percentage of blacks was reduced from 57% to 50%. Politically, this has long been Democratic country; some white voters here have been attracted to the Republicanism of Jesse Helms, but overall this remains a solid Democratic district.

The congresswoman from the 1st District is Eva Clayton, a Democrat first elected in 1992. She grew up in Savannah, Georgia, and has lived for many years in North Carolina. In the mid-1970s, she was director of the Soul City Foundation, civil rights leader Floyd McKissick's attempt to form a black ''new town.'' That foundered, but Clayton backed Jim Hunt in 1976 and became an assistant secretary for community development in his first term as governor. She was elected to, and served as chairman of, the Warren County Board of Commissioners from 1982-90. She also ran her own consulting firm and in 1992 ran for the 1st District seat when the boundaries were drawn. The incumbent, 78-year-old Walter Jones Sr., chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee since 1980 and chairman of the Peanuts and Tobacco Subcommittee before that, was retiring, and died in September 1992. His son, state legislator Walter Jones Jr., ran and won 38% in the first Democratic primary, just 2% less than the 40% which under North Carolina law would have given him the nomination; Clayton was second with 31%. Clayton won the runoff 55%-45%, and she won in November with 67%. (One of Jesse Jackson's crusades in the 1980s was to abolish runoffs; if he had succeeded, Clayton would have lost.) Thus she and 12th District Congressman Mel Watt became the first blacks elected to Congress from North Carolina since George White in 1898.

Clayton is part of the black middle class who have worked their way up in or close to government. In her 1992 campaign, she backed more public investment and job training and lower defense spending to cut the deficit; in office she earned one of the most liberal voting records in the House. Freshman Democrats elected her to chair their class. She was proud of working for WIC and food stamps extension, for crop disaster assistance, for the Section 515 affordable housing program. She amended the food stamps proposal in 1996 to reduce the 20-hour work requirement for those who receive food stamps worth less than what they would earn working 20 hours at the minimum wage. To urban Black Caucus members seeking her support for bills, she responds, ''Does it include rural areas?'' In 1998 she successfully moved to lift the statute of limitations to allow farmers to sue the Agriculture Department for racial discrimination; in January 1999 Agriculture settled with hundreds of black farmers with claims of racial discrimination in the past distribution of loans. She also pressed for amendments for relief to farmers unable to get credit after the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act. Her bills to reimburse Greenville National Guard troops for expenses the Army could not pay and to require colleges to provide voter registration forms for young people registering for classes passed.

Clayton has bucked the Clinton Administration on welfare and trade; she voted against the Africa trade bill, saying it would take jobs from her district. She said she would support a tobacco bill if it was balanced and included protection for tobacco farmers. She has been alert to district interests, including defense contracts and bases outside district lines which employ many district residents, like the Newport News shipyard. In 1998 she announced a $17.5 million grant for the Global Transpark at Kinston Regional Jetport.

Clayton disagreed with the court decision which set the lines for 1998, and she had opposition, for the first time since 1992, in the primary scheduled for September 1998. State Representative Linwood Mercer ran as a conservative Democrat. But Clayton raised far more money and Tipper Gore came in to campaign for her 12 days before the election. Clayton won the primary 67%-33% and won 62%-37% in November against pharmaceutical salesman Ted Tyler, who has faced Clayton in every election since 1992.

Cook's Call:
Safe. Clayton's only worries in this overwhelmingly Democratic district will be a primary challenge. Still, even a well-funded Democratic challenger only took 33% of the vote against her in 1998.

The People:

• Pop. 1990: 553,426
• 58.1% rural; 14.4% age 65+;
• 48.6% White, 50.3% Black, 0.2% Asian, 0.6% Amer. Indian, 0.6% Hispanic origin; 0.3% Other.
• Households: 47.4% married couple families; 22.8% married couple fams. w. children; 27.7% college educ.; median household income: $18,226; per capita income: $8,918; median gross rent: $183; median house value: $46,100.

1996 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 100,650 (57%) Dole (R) 66,342 (38%) Perot (I) 8,295 (5%)

1992 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 101,721 (55%) Bush (R) 63,738 (34%) Perot (I) 20,083 (11%)