We still live in Jim Hunt’s North Carolina | Opinion
North Carolina has had plenty of governors, but only one became the measuring stick for all the rest: Jim Hunt.
The Wilson County native died Thursday at the age 88. For a state that rarely agrees on anything, the reaction has been strikingly unified — respect, gratitude, and a quiet recognition that an era has ended.
Over four terms, Hunt didn’t just serve as governor, he defined what the job is supposed to be. He was the bridge between old North Carolina and new North Carolina, between a state defined by rural poverty and a state trying to build an economy that could compete, educate, and innovate.
The vision he set has been remarkably durable. Drop a 39-year-old Jim Hunt in today’s North Carolina, and he’d still win the governorship in a landslide.
I never met Jim Hunt, nor got his famous handshake. The first governor I met was Gov. Mike Easley, and I’ve seen each one since. Watching them up close, a pattern becomes hard to miss. Regardless of party, style, or talents, every one of them, in their own way, tried to live up to Jim Hunt.
Three ways
And in a real sense, we’re still living in the state he built. Start with the people.
Hunt didn’t just leave behind a legacy. He left behind a governing class. Gov. Roy Cooper was one of his protégés — part of the line of Democrats Hunt trained, mentored, and elevated. And now Hunt’s own daughter, Rachel Hunt, is North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, holding a post her father once used to build a statewide coalition.
Then there are the priorities.
Hunt’s success wasn’t built on ideology. It was built on a simple formula that still fits a purple state: good schools, business growth, and public safety.
That’s still a winning platform in North Carolina. Hunt’s genius was treating those priorities as connected, not competing. A state can’t recruit employers without stability. A state can’t build stability without schools that work. A state can’t sustain good schools without an economy that can fund them.
Hunt pushed the goal of raising teacher pay to the national average, and that remains the litmus test.
No easy labels
Finally, there’s Hunt’s governing posture, and this may be the part North Carolina misses the most right now.
He remained a steadfast Democrat until the end, but Hunt is hard to squeeze into today’s categories. His record had progressive priorities, but also a strong streak of cultural traditionalism and law-and-order governance. You can argue what party he’d belong to today and find evidence for both sides.
But Hunt was first and foremost a North Carolinian. He talked like one. Governed like one. Built coalitions like one. His focus was relentlessly practical.
We still live in Jim Hunt’s North Carolina — not because we’re stuck in the past, but because we’re still living with the standard he set.
North Carolina would do well to be like Jim Hunt today. In a state constantly told to pick a team, Hunt’s legacy is the stubborn, bracing alternative: pick North Carolina.
Contributing columnist Andrew Dunn is the publisher of the Longleaf Politics newsletter, which offers thoughtful analysis of North Carolina politics and policy from a conservative perspective. He can be reached at andrew@longleafpol.com.
This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 9:31 PM.