Republicans gear up to take over: Chapel Hill ponders loss of Lee, Price

The News & Observer, page A1, Nov. 10, 1994

CHAPEL HILL -- Most people just didn't want to believe it. In one incredible day, Chapel Hill lost two of its longtime influential and popular politicians -- state Sen. Howard Lee and U.S. Rep. David Price.

Come the first of the year, Moore County residents Teena Little and Fred Hobbs will speak for Orange County in the state Senate while Raleigh Republican Fred Heineman will represent the county in Congress. On Wednesday, residents were trying to sort out what the changes would mean to them, while leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worried about the defeat of two of its staunch Democratic supporters.

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Townspeople are also skeptical about whether the new leaders will be responsive to Chapel Hill interests, although its state representatives, Anne Barnes and Joe Hackney, will return to office.

"The relationship at best will be considerably more distant," said former Town Council member Joe Herzenberg. "Across the board, whether it's education, or social service programs, various civil rights issues -- almost everything we hold in high esteem -- the people who represent us in the next two years will be considerably less sympathetic than David and Howard have been."

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To some extent, some Chapel Hill residents may feel some responsibility for the losses. In most Orange County precincts, voters picked Price 2-to-1. Lee and Hobbs both ran well in Orange, with Lee the top vote getter.

But Little and Heineman rode heavy Republican support outside Orange County to claim victory. Some said if turnout in Orange had been higher, perhaps Price and Lee could have squeaked out victories.

"We may have not been working hard enough for our candidates," Herzenberg said. "We may have been sitting back and taking it too easy."