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Political Note #315 Pat Timmons-Goodson NC CD 08.
2020 General election
In a parallel universe, one in which Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate did not block Barack Obama’s nominees, Pat Timmons-Goodson https://www.timmonsgoodsonforcongress.com would be a federal judge. In a different parallel universe, one in which Hillary Clinton did not lose Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to Donald Trump, Pat Timmons-Goodson would be a federal judge. We are not in a parallel universe; we are in this one. Pat Timmons-Goodson is not a federal judge. She is running for Congress. As a 65 year-old, first year Member of Congress she would be a freshman sage.
Pat Timmons-Goodson was an army brat, a child of a mother who was at home and a father who was a Sergeant First Class. Born in South Carolina, she lived in various places in Europe and the United States, She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976 and from the law school there in 1979.
After law school, Pat Timmons-Goodson went to work for the Census Bureau in Charlotte just in time for the 1980 census. She went on serve in North Carolina as an Assistant District Attorney for two years and then as a staff attorney for a Legal Services agency. In 1984, she was appointed a District Court Judge, a position to which she was elected three times before she was appointed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Retired from the appeals court, she was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court and then, later in the year, elected to a six-year term. She chose not to run again and was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights.
Pat Timmons-Goodson was not an entirely apolitical judge. She was as apolitical as you can be in a state where judges are elected where they have to run for office. Running for Congress is a different kind of politics. Consider North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District and the redistricting of all of North Carolina’s congressional districts.
North Carolina has thirteen Congressional Districts. After the 2020 census is completed, it could be fourteen. North Carolina Democrats sued in state court arguing that the thirteen districts were gerrymandered to minimize Democratic representation. In a 50-50 state, Democrats had three Members of Congress. The Republican dominated legislature responded to the lawsuit with a proposal that would increase the number of Democratic districts from three to five.
The result wasn’t really satisfactory to the North Carolina Democrats, but they accepted the legislature’s plan. Republican Representative George Holding of the 2nd district retired from a district which was now Democratic. Republican Representative Mark Walker of the 6th district did the same. Later, after the 2020 census and before the 2022 elections, redistricting will be done again, this time probably with 14 districts instead of 13. North Carolina Democrats will press again for fair representation.
The legislative plan that the North Carolina Democrats accepted had two competitive districts. The 9th District held by Republican Representative Dan Bishop is anchored by Charlottesville and the 8th District held by Republican Representative Richard Hudson.
Pat Timmons-Goodson is targeting Richard Hudson, the incumbent in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional district. The district’s population is two-thirds White, a quarter African-American, 10% Hispanic. Like most predominantly White districts in the South, North Carolina’s 8th transitioned from being a Democratic district to a Republican district. That transition had an impermanent quality. It became Republican with the 1962 election (Black students were sitting in to integrate Woolworth’s), but elected a Democrat in 1974 (shortly after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace). The district elected a Republican in 1998 (shortly after the impeachment of Bill Clinton was begun) and a Democrat in 2008 (at the same time that Barack Obama was elected President). The district elected the incumbent Republican Richard Hudson in 2012 (while Barack Obama was being elected to his second term).
Redistricting had a role in these shifts and, certainly, in Richard Hudson’s election. In the redistricting after the 2010 census, NC 08 became much more Republican with all but a tiny bit of Charlotte removed. Richard Hudson, a Republican operative for most of his career, was elected to the reorganized district by 8 points.
While repealing the Affordable Care Act was usually a mindless Republican legislative exercise, there was a moment when Republicans actually debated an alternative: a bill to end the ACA’s income-based subsidies by replacing them with tax credits adjusted according to age and abolishing most of the rest of the law. John McCain eventually ended that debate by opposing the replacement bill. North Carolina Republicans struggled with the bill. Some thought there was no need for the tax credits. Hudson was among the “moderate” Republicans who thought a replacement to ACA was necessary.
Richard Hudson is more or less a generic Republican – opposed to any gun control, opposed to abortions, in favor of the military. He goes a little farther than some. He is in favor of health care in the military and would address the military’s opioid problem. He goes a little farther than others in being pro-life. He adds his opposition to euthanasia.
Pat Timmons-Goodson is not likely to become a member of the Squad. She has not been specific about her political positions, just her broader vision. If asked about her political vision, she would respond with something like justice for all. If asked about her life other than her work, her response would be pretty conservative. She lives in Fayetteville where her parents lived after her father’s medical discharge. Her husband is an orthodontist there. Her two children went to Guilford College, a small liberal arts college in Greensboro, NC which may be a clue to Pat Timmons-Goodson view of the world.
Guilford College was founded by abolitionist Quakers before the Civil War. Nevertheless, it did not begin to become a racially integrated institution until the 1960s. Now the school celebrates the stop on the underground railroad on its property and its core values which include community, diversity, and equality.
Help Pat Timmons-Goodson https://www.timmonsgoodsonforcongress.com win this election. She will be one more member of a new phenomenon – in 2018, African Americans were elected to represent predominantly White Congressional districts. She has enough money to compete, but needs more. She started the month of July with $600,000. Her opponent started that month with $1.7 million dollars. This is a Lean Republican district according to the Cook Report, a Toss-up according to others. A Democratic victory in NC 08 is reachable. Money would help.
DEMOCRAT INSURGENTS WITH POLL RESULTS WHERE I HAVE THEM – Lots of candidate worth supporting. Where no recent poll is available, judgments are from the Cook Report
Alaska AK Alyce Galvin to defeat incumbent Don Young (Lean R) (Galvin 43-41, 43-42)
Arizona 06 Hiral Tipirneni to defeat incumbent David Schweikert (Toss up)
Arkansas 02. Joyce Elliott to defeat incumbent French Hill (Likely R)
California 25. Christy Smith to defeat incumbent Mike Garcia who won the May special election. (Toss up)
California 50 Ammar Campa-Hajjar to defeat Darrell Issa for this open Rep seat (Likely R)
Colorado 03 Diane Mitsch Bush to defeat Lauren Boebert for this open Rep seat (Mitch 43-42)
Florida 15 Alan Cohn to defeat Scott Franklin for the open Republican seat. (Lean R)
Florida 16 Margaret Good to defeat incumbent Vern Buchanan. (Likely R)
Georgia 07 Carolyn Bordeaux to defeat Rich McCormick for this open Republican seat. (Lean D)
Illinois 13 Betsy Dirksen Londrigen* to defeat incumbent Rodney Davis (Londrigan 43-41)
Indiana 05 Christina Hale to defeat Victoria Spartz for this open Republican seat (Hale 50-45, 51-45) (Spartz 47-40)
Iowa 04 JD Scholten to defeat Randy Feenstra for this open seat (Likely R)
Kansas 02 Michelle De La Isla to defeat Jacob La Turner for this open Republican seat (Likely R)
Michigan 03. Hillary Scholten to defeat Peter Meijer for this open Republican seat (Likely R)
Michigan 06 Jon Hoadley to defeat incumbent Fred Upton (Lean R)
Minnesota 01 Dan Feehan* to defeat incumbent Jim Hagedorn (Hagedorn 41-38)
Missouri 02 Jill Schupp to defeat incumbent Ann Wagner (Toss up)
Montana AL Kathleen Williams to defeat Matt Rosendale for this open Republican seat (Lean R)
Nebraska 02. Kara Eastman to defeat incumbent Don Bacon (Toss up) (Schupp 48-45)
New Jersey 02 Amy Kennedy to defeat incumbent Jeff Van Drew (Kennedy 46-45, 51-46)
New York 01 Nancy Goroff to defeat. Incumbent Lee Zeldin. (Lean R) (Goroff 48-46) (Zeldin 47-42, 47-40)
New York 02 Jackie Gordon to defeat Andrew Garbarino for this open Republican seat. (Toss up)
New York 21 Tedra Cobb* to defeat incumbent Elise Stefanic. (Toss up)
New York 24 Dana Balter* to defeat incumbent John Katko. (Lean R)
North Carolina 09. Cynthia Wallace to defeat incumbent Dan Bishop. (Likely R)
Pennsylvania 01 Christina Finello to defeat incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick. (Toss up) (Fitzpatrick 47- 35, 53-39, 50-35) Finello 40-38) (Tied 46-46)
Pennsylvania 10 Eugene DePasquale to defeat incumbent Scott Perry. (Lean R)
Texas 02 Sima Ladjervardian to defeat incumbent Dan Crenshaw. (Likely R)
Texas 21 Wendy Davis to defeat incumbent Chip Roy. (Toss up)
Texas 22 Sri Preston Kalkuri to defeat Troy Nehls for this open seat. (Tied 39-39)
Texas 23 Gina Ortiz Jones* to defeat Tony Gonzales for this open Republican seat. (Lean D)
Texas 24 Candace Valenzuela to defeat Beth Van Duyne for this open Republican seat. (Toss up)
Virginia 05 B. Cameron Webb to defeat Bob Good for this open Republican seat. (Lean R)
Washington 03 Carolyn Long to defeat incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler (Likely R)
Wisconsin 07 Tricia Zunker to defeat incumbent Tom Tiffany who won the May Special Election. (Solid R)
