Helms' Senate campaigns at a glance

1972 OPPONENT: U.S. Rep. Nick Galifianakis THE CAMPAIGN: Jesse Helms was a well-known broadcast editorialist, but his only elective experience was on the Raleigh City Council. Helms easily won the GOP primary. In the fall, the Democrats were badly divided after Galifianakis upset Senate incumbent B. Everett Jordan. Helms linked Galifianakis to unpopular Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. He ran newspaper ads condemning the “McGovern-Galifianakis cut and run” policies in Vietnam. Helms’ campaign slogan was, “Elect Jesse Helms — He’s One of Us,” which critics said was aimed at Galifianakis’ Greek-American heritage. RESULT: Helms won with 54 percent of the vote, as Republican Richard Nixon swept the state with 71 percent of the vote.

1978 OPPONENT: State Insurance Commissioner John Ingram THE CAMPAIGN: Helms didn’t have Nixon’s coat tails this time, and Republicans were in the doldrums since the Watergate scandal. The Democratic favorite, banker Luther Hodges Jr., was upset in the the Democratic primary by Ingram, a populist who was virtually disowned by his own party. Helms’ campaign spent $7.4 million, while Ingram spent $264,088. Helms campaigned on his opposition to the Panama Canal Treaty. RESULT: Helms won with 55 percent of the vote, his largest margin ever.

1984 OPPONENT: Gov. Jim Hunt THE CAMPAIGN: It was a battle of the state’s political titans. Hunt, the best North Carolina politician of his generation, assembled a massive Democratic machine. The epic battle began with advertising in the spring of 1983 and continued until November 1984. The two candidates spent $26 million ($50 million in today’s dollars), a national record at the time. Helms started 25 percentage points behind Hunt in the polls, but began to catch up when he filibustered a Senate bill naming civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday. RESULT: Helms won with 52 percent of the vote. He was helped by the strong showing in the presidential election of Ronald Reagan, who won 62 percent of the state’s vote.

1990 OPPONENT: Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt THE CAMPAIGN: Helms faced a tough race from Gantt, a former Charlotte mayor and architect who was North Carolina’s first major African-American candidate for statewide office. Gantt portrayed Helms as an ideological crusader more interested in faraway countries than the problems of tobacco farmers and textile workers. Helms attacked the National Endowment for the Arts because it “rewards and subsidizes filth and blasphemous, so-called art designed to promote homosexual conduct using the taxpayer’s money.” With the race tight in the closings days, Helms aired two commercials that touched on race relations — one accusing Gantt of using his race and position to financially benefit from a TV deal and an ad on racial quotas. The race was the most expensive in the country that year, with the two campaigns spending a total of $45.5 million. RESULT: Helms won with 53 percent of the vote.

1996 OPPONENT: Gantt THE CAMPAIGN: In the primary, much of the Democratic establishment had backed Charles Sanders, a retired moderate business executive, because no black candidate had been elected to the Senate in the South since Reconstruction. But Gantt won the primary to face Helms again. The race featured a kinder, gentler Helms, who had broken with his political organization, the National Congressional Club. Seeking to appeal to the 700,000 new voters who had moved into North Carolina since the last race, Helms emphasized his connections as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and brought in GOP establishment figures such as former President George Bush and Henry Kissinger. Gantt criticized Helms for voting to cut Social Security, student loans and against a higher minimum wage. RESULT: The same as the previous campaign — Helms won with 53 percent of the vote.