Where an NC candidate’s car is parked becomes evidence for opponent in a swing district
A Democratic state Senate candidate in Eastern North Carolina faces a complaint from her Republican opponent questioning where she lives.
State Rep. Bobby Hanig, who is running for the Senate District 3 seat, filed an election protest Monday to the Currituck County Board of Elections, he said Tuesday, challenging the residency of rival Valerie Jordan.
Both are new candidates for that district, which is one that could determine whether Republicans gain a supermajority this fall rather than their current majority in the House and Senate.
Jordan owns a home in Raleigh and lists a house in Warrenton as her current address on her campaign website. She registered to vote there in December 2020.
Jordan’s campaign called the complaint “baseless.” In a statement, Jordan said that when she moved to Raleigh years ago for work, she commuted back to Warrenton to take care of her dying mother.
Senate District 3 includes Warren, Halifax, Northampton, Martin, Bertie, Hertford, Gates, Tyrrell, Camden and Currituck counties.
“Residents of Northeastern North Carolina deserve a Senator who lives in the district and understands the challenges facing them, not someone who has lived in Raleigh for 24 years. I have lived in the district for 30 years and I know the voters want a representative who knows the people, the communities and the issues that matter to Northeastern voters,” Hanig said in a press release on Tuesday about his election protest.
Hanig, of Powells Point, said voters in Senate District 3 “deserve representation by someone, Republican or Democrat, who lives here and shares their values.”
North Carolina election rules require General Assembly candidates to live in their districts for a year before the election.
23 days in a driveway
Jordan bought her house in Raleigh in 1998. She has served on the state Department of Transportation board since 2017, and her DOT biography says she is a Warren County native and longtime Raleigh resident. DOT headquarters is in downtown Raleigh.
Nathan Babcock, a political campaign consultant who previously worked for Senate leader Phil Berger, said the information came up in the opposition research typically done for campaigns. Babcock said that he and Dylan Watts, director of the Senate Republican Caucus, noticed that Jordan changed her address from her Raleigh home to her parents’ Warrenton home.
Babcock said they started driving by her Raleigh house every morning since it is a few minutes from his office, and the same car with a Department of Transportation tag was in the driveway.
“Twenty-three straight days it was parked in the driveway,” he said.
The complaint from Hanig claims that those “23 straight days” were from July 20 to Aug. 11, 2022, and two cars with license plates that read “DOT 5” and “DOT 5A” are photographed at the house in southern Raleigh. Her DOT board position is for Division 5. Several photographs of the cars parked at the house are part of the complaint.
Hanig is a state representative who has served two terms in a district including Currituck, Dare, Hyde and Pamlico counties.
“Anyone that would suggest that I don’t live in Warrenton clearly doesn’t know Warrenton, which is exactly what’s wrong with Raleigh politicians like Bobby Hanig,” Jordan said in an emailed statement. “This part of our state has been left behind for too long and I look forward to putting eastern North Carolina back on the agenda when elected.”
Jordan said that she was born and raised in Warren County, where she went to school, “put in tobacco here, and I raised my daughter here. While I did move to Raleigh for work, years ago, I began commuting back to Warrenton daily to take care of my dying mother. Caring for my mother while she was sick was a deeply painful experience, but the support I received from my Warrenton family and friends reminded me of just how much I love this community and it inspired me to move back home after her passing in 2020,” she said.
“Warrenton is my home, where I pray on Sunday, and where I host our family dinners,” Jordan said.
The Currituck County Board of Elections office confirmed they received Hanig’s complaint, which was referred to the county attorney and elections director to consider next steps.
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This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 2:51 PM.
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