Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:52:10.497Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cues, Endorsements, and Heresthetic in a High-profile Election: Racial Polarization in Durham, North Carolina?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

Christian R. Grose
Christian R. Grose
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Did voters in Durham, North Carolina divide along racial lines in the high-profile May 2, 2006, primary election for Durham district attorney? The results of an analysis of the primary vote by race suggest there were not major racial divisions: winner Mike Nifong received about the same percentage of support from African-American voters as from voters who are not African American. However, it seems likely, and I argue here, that Nifong used the high-profile prosecution of the Duke lacrosse rape case to win over some African-American and White voters in what otherwise might have been a low-key, low-information local election. This case and its allegations are sordid and appalling, and have garnered substantial national media attention. I contend that Nifong aggressively pursued prosecution as a way of representing what he perceived was his constituents' interests in justice for the alleged victim (though some have subsequently questioned his prosecution of the case); this aggressive prosecution's public nature likely had electoral ramifications. Further, supporting recent work on race and electoral politics, I show that traditional racial cues were critically important in other concurrently held Durham elections, though not in Nifong's race for district attorney. Nifong, a White candidate, defeated another White candidate and an African-American candidate in a county that is 51% White and 40% African-American (based on those identifying as only one race in the 2000 census).

Type
FEATURES
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 325 - 332
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, Christopher H., and W. Phillips Shively. 1995. Cross-Level Inference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Arrington, Theodore S., and Bernard Grofman. 1999. “Party Registration Choices as a Function of the Geographic Distribution of Partisanship.” Political Geography 18: 173–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, Stanley. 2005. “Heresthetics and the Realignment of British Politics.” British Journal of Political Science 35: 429–63.Google Scholar
Biesecker, Michael, and Stanley Chambers. 2006. “D.A. Campaign May Be Reality,” Raleigh News and Observer, 30 June.Google Scholar
Boatright, Robert G. 2004. “Static Ambition in a Changing World: Legislators' Preparations for, and Responses to, Redistricting.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 4: 436–54.Google Scholar
Brooks, David. 2006. “Virtues and Victims,” New York Times, 9 April.Google Scholar
Browning, Rufus P., Dale Rogers Marshall, and David H. Tabb. 1984. Protest is Not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bullock, Charles S. III. 1984. “Racial Crossover Voting and the Election of Black Officials.” Journal of Politics 46: 238–51.Google Scholar
Bullock, Charles S. III, and Richard E. Dunn. 1999. “The Demise of Racial Redistricting and the Future of Black Representation.” Emory Law Journal 48: 1209–53.Google Scholar
Canon, David T. 1999. Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chambers, Stanley. 2006. “City's Privacy Falls Victim When the Circus Comes to Town,” Raleigh News and Observer, 22 April.Google Scholar
Collet, Christian. 2005. “Bloc Voting, Polarization and the Panethnic Hypothesis: The Case of Little Saigon.” Journal of Politics 67: 907–33.Google Scholar
Davidson, Chandler, and Bernard Grofman, eds. 1994. Quiet Revolution in the South: The Impact of the Voting Rights Act, 1965–1990. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dopart, Brianne. 2006. “Committee Switches Support to Nifong,” Durham Herald-Sun, 22 October.Google Scholar
Dorell, Oren. 2006. “Duke-Durham History Takes Another Turn,” USA Today, 8 June.Google Scholar
Eamon, Thomas F., and David Elliott. 1994. “Modernization versus Traditionalism in North Carolina Senate Races.” Social Science Quarterly 75: 354–67.Google Scholar
Edwards, Damian. 2004. “Heresthetic in the Antipodes.” Political Science 56: 65–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engstrom, Richard L., and Willie Kirkland. 1995. “The 1994 New Orleans Mayoral Election: Racial Divisions Continue.” Urban News 9: 6–9.Google Scholar
Fleer, Jack G. 1994. North Carolina Government and Politics. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Glaser, James M. 1996. Race, Campaign Politics, and the Realignment in the South. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, Leo A. 1959. “Some Alternatives to Ecological Correlation.” American Journal of Sociology 64: 610–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gronberg, Ray. 2006a. “Interest Group Backs Bishop,” Durham Herald-Sun, 25 April.Google Scholar
Gronberg, Ray. 2006b. “Durham DA Race is Hot,” Durham Herald-Sun, 7 November.Google Scholar
Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2006. “Single Poor Black Mothers, Rape and the Politics of Disgust.” Available at http://hyperempathicpolitics.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/21/1974693.html. Accessed 20 November.Google Scholar
Haynie, Kerry L. 2002. “The Color of Their Skin or the Content of Their Behavior: Race and Perceptions of African American Legislators.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 27: 295–314.Google Scholar
Highton, Benjamin. 2004. “White Voters and African American Candidates for Congress.” Political Behavior 26: 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinchcliffe, Kelly. 2006. “Committee Announces Endorsements for Elections,” Durham Herald-Sun, 23 April.Google Scholar
Hixon, William, and Bryan W. Marshall. Forthcoming. “Agendas, Side Issues and Leadership in the U.S. House.” Journal of Theoretical Politics.Google Scholar
Jeffries, Judson L. 1999. “U. S. Senator Edward W. Brooke and Governor L. Douglas Wilder Tell Political Scientists How Blacks Can Win High-Profile Statewide Office.” PS: Political Science and Politics 32: 583–7.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Karen M. 2004. The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Kazee, Thomas A. 1998. “ North Carolina: Conservatism, Traditionalism, and the GOP.” In The New Politics of the Old South, eds. Charles S. Bullock II and Mark J. Rozell. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Keech, William R. 1968. The Impact of Negro Voting: The Role of the Vote in the Quest for Equality. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
King, Gary. 1997. A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Knotts, H. Gibbs. 2005. “Grassroots Republicanism: Evaluating the Trickle Down Realignment Theory in North Carolina.” Politics & Policy 33: 1–17.Google Scholar
Kousser, J. Morgan. 1999. Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Kristof, Nicholas D. 2006. “Jocks and Prejudice,” New York Times, 11 June.Google Scholar
Lieske, Joel. 1989. “The Political Dynamics of Urban Voting Behavior.” American Journal of Political Science 33: 150–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Baodong. 2003. “Deracialization and Urban Racial Contexts.” Urban Affairs Review 38: 572–91.Google Scholar
Liu, Baodong. 2006. “Whites as a Minority and the New Biracial Coalition in New Orleans and Memphis.” PS: Political Science and Politics 40: 69–76.Google Scholar
Mallia, Joseph. 2006. “Quiet Before the Storm,” New York Newsday, 12 July.Google Scholar
McClain, Paula, Niambi M. Carter, Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, Monique L. Lyle, Jeffrey D. Grynaviski, Shayla C. Nunnally, Thomas J. Scotto, J. Alan Kendrick, Gerald F. Lackey, and Kendra Davenport Cotton. 2006. “Racial Distancing in a Southern City: Latino Immigrants' Views of Black Americans.” Journal of Politics 68: 571–84Google Scholar
McLean, Iain. 2002. “William H. Riker and the Invention of Heresthetic(s).” British Journal of Political Science 32: 535–58.Google Scholar
Mendelberg, Tali. 2001. The Race Card. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Niolet, Benjamin. 2006a. “Spotlight New Place for Nifong,” Raleigh News and Observer, 10 April.Google Scholar
Niolet, Benjamin. 2006b. “Rape Case Is a Factor; Durham DA Race Has a Hot Topic,” Raleigh News and Observer, 28 April.Google Scholar
Niolet, Benjamin. 2006c. “Durham DA Race is Blurry Picture,” Raleigh News and Observer, 4 November.Google Scholar
Perry, Huey L. 2003. “ The Evolution and Impact of Biracial Coalitions and Black Mayors in Birmingham and New Orleans.” In Racial Politics in American Cities, eds. Rufus P. Browning, Dale Rogers Marshall, and David H. Tabb. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Phillips, Gregory. 2006. “The Final Answer: No Campaign for Cheek,” Durham Herald-Sun, 28 July.Google Scholar
Prysby, Charles. 2002. “ North Carolina: Continued Two-party Competition.” In The 2000 Presidential Election in the South: Partisanship and Southern Party Systems in the 21st Century, eds. Robert P. Steed and Laurence W. Moreland. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Reeves, Keith. 1997. Voting Hopes or Fears? White Voters, Black Candidates and Racial Politics in America. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1984. “The Heresthetics of Constitution-Making: The Presidency in 1787, with Comments on Determinism and Rational Choice.” American Political Science Review 78 (March): 1–16.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1990. “ Heresthetic and Rhetoric in the Spatial Model.” In Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting, eds. James M. Enelow and Melvin J. Hinich. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, Carroll. 2006. “Scandal Stains Duke's Image: Sex Assault Case Crosses Lines,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 30 March.Google Scholar
Rose, Melody. 2001. “Losing Control: The Intraparty Consequences of Divided Government.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 31: 679–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, Barry. 2006. “Uncivil War Highlights Local Race,” Raleigh News and Observer, 18 February.Google Scholar
Scavo, Carmine. 1990. “Racial Integration of Local Government Leadership in Southern Small Cities.” Social Science Quarterly 71: 362–72.Google Scholar
Schofield, Norman. 2003. “Constitutional Quandaries and Critical Elections.” Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 2: 5–36.Google Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A. 2003. “Losers in Politics (and How They Sometimes Become Winners): William Riker's Heresthetic.” Perspectives on Politics 1: 307–15.Google Scholar
Sides, John. 2006. “The Origin of Campaign Agendas.” British Journal of Political Science 36: 407–36.Google Scholar
Sonenshein, Raphael J. 1993. Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sonenshein, Raphael J., and Susan H. Pinkus. 2005. “Latino Incorporation Reaches the Urban Summit: How Antonio Villaraigosa Won the 2005 Los Angeles Mayor's Race.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38: 713–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, Harold W., and Christian Grose. 2000. “ Alabama 1998: Luck Runs Out for GOP and Christian Right as Democrats Gamble on the Lottery.” In Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections, eds. John C. Green, Mark J. Rozell, and Clyde Wilcox. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Stevenson, John. 2006a. “Nifong Defends His Handling of Rape Case,” Durham Herald-Sun, 13 April.Google Scholar
Stevenson, John. 2006b. “3rd Candidate for Durham D.A. Says He'll Likely File Today,” Durham Herald-Sun, 22 February.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Brenda. 2000. “Even at the Turning of the Tide: An Analysis of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus.” Journal of Black Studies 30: 815–38.Google Scholar
Swain, Carol M. 1995. Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African-Americans in Congress. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Andrew. 2005. “Heresthetics and the Realignment of British Politics.” British Journal of Political Science 35: 429–63.Google Scholar
Terkildsen, Nayda. 1993. “When White Voters Evaluate Black Candidates: The Processing Implications of Candidate Skin Color, Prejudice, and Self-Monitoring.” American Journal of Political Science 37: 1032–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Evan, and Susannah Meadows. 2006. “Doubts About Duke,” Newsweek, 29 June.Google Scholar
Thompson, Joel A. 1986. “The Voting Rights Act in North Carolina: An Evaluation.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 16: 139–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanderleeuw, James, Baodong Liu, and Gregory Marsh. 2004. “Applying Black Threat Theory, Urban Regime Theory, and Deracialization: The Memphis Mayoral Elections of 1991, 1995, and 1999.” Journal of Urban Affairs 26: 505–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voss, D. Stephen, and David Lublin. 2001. “Black Incumbents, White Districts: An Appraisal of the 1996 Congressional Elections.” American Politics Research 29: 141–82.Google Scholar
Weare, Walter B. 1993. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Sharon D. Austin, and Richard T. Middleton IV 2004. “The Limitations of the Deracialization Concept in the 2001 Los Angeles Mayoral Election.” Political Research Quarterly 57: 283–93.Google Scholar
Yarbrough, Tinsley. 2002. Race and Redistricting: The Shaw-Cromartie Cases. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Zimmer, Jeff. 2006. “Out to Uphold City's Image,” Durham Herald-Sun, 8 April.Google Scholar