Former Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran, now a candidate for North Carolina lieutenant governor, is shown at an event in the city in late November. Tom Joyce | The News
Former Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran, now a candidate for North Carolina lieutenant governor, is shown at an event in the city in late November. – Tom Joyce | The News
The race to elect North Carolina’s next lieutenant governor mirrors this year’s Democratic presidential candidates and their GOP counterparts in 2016 — with a crowded field involved — but a Mount Airy woman outshines the rest in recent polling.
In a poll conducted in December, Deborah Cochran, a former mayor of this city, from 2009-15, finished ahead of eight other candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the statewide office now held by Dan Forest. He is running for governor this year.
The political survey by Harper Polling, done on behalf of the conservative Civitas Institute, targeted 500 likely GOP voters in an upcoming primary in March, who responded to this question:
“If the Republican primary election for lieutenant governor of North Carolina were held today, and the candidates were (listed alphabetically) Buddy Bengel, Deborah Cochran, Renee Ellmers, Greg Gebhardt, Mark Johnson, Mark Robinson, Scott Stone, Andy Wells or John Ritter, who would you vote for?”
Cochran was favored by 8% of the survey respondents, which might sound low but was more than any other GOP candidate received. The next-highest total (7%) was garnered by Ellmers, a former congresswoman from Dunn who served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before losing a re-election bid in 2016.
Ellmers and Cochran are the only women in the GOP primary field and are among just four seeking to become lieutenant governor altogether. Five of the nine Republican candidates drew the support of 3% or less of voters polled.
“I am pleasantly surprised,” Cochran commented Wednesday in reacting to the poll results.
While 67% of the respondents said they were undecided about which GOP office-seeker they will favor in the March 3 primary, Cochran hopes the support she received in the poll will translate to broader interest as it approaches.
“I honestly think traveling and speaking, and making connections at each place, has helped,” added Cochran, who has described herself as a “working-class” candidate competing against Ellmers and others on both sides of the aisle with more name recognition.
Cochran, 57, is waging a statewide campaign while also holding down the responsibilities of a full-time job as a business teacher at a high school in Winston-Salem.
“Surry County Chair Mark Jones calls me the ‘Road Warrior,’” Cochran remarked in reference to the local Republican Party chairman.
The former mayor also believes she has built a good network across the state. “I do have campaign organizers in many counties.”
Cochran thinks another factor for her success in the poll is the fact her campaign for lieutenant governor got off to an early start.
“I was the first to announce in May 2018. Some announced later in 2019,” she recalled. “I do bring history, executive experience, servant leadership and educational background — all of which is specifically qualified for this position.”
The lieutenant governor presides over the N.C. Senate, including casting the deciding vote in case of a tie, and is a voting member of the State Board of Education and the State Board of Community Colleges.
Another finding from the Harper Polling/Civitas Institute poll in December was that jobs and the economy is the most important state-level issue among respondents in determining their vote in 2020, and Cochran has embraced that in her campaign.
“I’m sticking to the issues that I focused on as mayor — economic growth and development — that’s as core as it gets,” Cochran said during an interview last month, when she described herself as extremely pro-business.
“Some candidates have no experience, and I have a proven fiscally conservative record,” Cochran mentioned Wednesday regarding her service in Mount Airy, which also has included a number of charitable endeavors.
In addition to the nine Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, six Democrats are seeking the office. Forest, who is serving his second term, is ineligible to run again under state law.
The primary winners from each party will square off in the general election in November.
Former Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran, now a candidate for North Carolina lieutenant governor, is shown at an event in the city in late November.
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
