Freshman GOP Sen. Barefoot Hopes To Hold Seat in Democratic District | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Joe Johnson, who is a contributor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Barefoot faces Democrat Sarah Crawford in competititve District 18 race

    RALEIGH     First-term Republican state Sen. Chad Barefoot is relying on his conservative credentials to win against Democratic challenger Sarah Crawford in a race judged to be competitive by the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation.

    Barefoot, at age 31 the youngest member of the Senate, also has the distinction of representing a heavily Democratic district. But he is counting on what he sees as a conservative streak that runs through District 18 to carry him to victory again.

    "They vote conservatively," Barefoot said. "They support what I stand for."

    The district comprises Franklin County and a sliver of eastern Wake County. It is 40 percent Democrat, 33.5 percent Republican and 25.8 percent unaffiliated. Women outnumber men in the district 53 to 46 percent.

    In the 2012 election, Barefoot handily defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Berger by about 11,000 votes in what was the most expensive state Senate race. But the district went for President Barack Obama by 8 points (54 to 46 percent), while the races for governor and lieutenant governor were virtual ties.

    Crawford, whose campaign focus has been on education and economic issues, said she sees an opening to take Barefoot down.

    Democrats other than Berger fared well in the Council of State races in the district with only Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry holding an advantage for the Republicans.

    Both candidates said the district was like a cross-section of the state in that there are competing urban and rural interests that must be represented.

    Their stances on education differ greatly, and could be the linchpin issue of the campaign.

    Barefoot said he believes families have lost confidence in the public school system, and that is why he supported the education reform package passed during the last legislative session.

    He said student performance must increase, and one way to achieve that is through additional school choices and further expansion of charter schools. He also sponsored legislation (Senate Bill 189) that became law changing the definition of home schools in the state.

    "The people I talk to are concerned about education in this state," Barefoot said. "They want their children to get a good education. We are building an education pipeline that is working for the good of our students."

    Crawford said the legislature's treatment of teachers, especially veterans of the classroom, was appalling. She acknowledged the 7 percent average pay increase the legislature gave teachers, but strongly disapproved of the distribution of the raises.

    "Our most experienced teachers got almost nothing," Crawford said. "A bulk of the increases went to new teachers, which was deserved. They could have done more for all teachers.

    "Last year the [legislature] had an opportunity to make some wise investments, especially in education, and they didn't," Crawford said. "We can't continue to cut things that will help our state grow."

    The role of Crawford's husband Dan also has become an issue in the campaign. Dan Crawford is a lobbyist for the N.C. League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group that opposes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means of producing energy. Fracking is a controversial within the district, and a coalition of nine environmental organizations (of which the NCLCV is not a member) has spent more than $1 million on ads targeting GOP lawmakers, including Barefoot, who support fracking.

    A recent ad sponsored by Barefoot points out Dan Crawford's job as a lobbyist.

    Barefoot said his biggest accomplishment during the session was sponsoring legislation (Senate Bill 815) that became law protecting the privacy of student information.

    "This was an area where our laws were not keeping up with our ability to collect information about students in our schools," Barefoot said. "There were no protections in place for this information, and [the law] excluded some types of information from being collected like political affiliation, religion and biometric data."

    Barefoot also said he was a staunch supporter of requiring photo identification when voting, protecting the Second Amendment, repealing Obamacare, securing national borders to prevent illegal immigration, and protecting private property rights when it comes to the government's power of eminent domain.

    Barefoot had just under $142,000 cash on hand for the June reporting period, while Crawford listed $131,000 for the same period.