THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230573
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WARRENTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
State Sen. Frank W. Ballance Jr. has been selected as the 1st District Democratic leader most likely to get Rep. Eva M. Clayton, D-Warren, re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
``Senator Ballance was instrumental in the success of the '92 Clayton For Congress campaign and I'm extremely grateful to have him lead my re-election efforts,'' said the Congresswoman.
She is opposed by Republican Ted Tyler of Rich Square in the November elections.
But as Clayton announced the appointment of Ballance as her campaign manager, some 1st District political observers suggested that the congresswoman seems to be setting up Ballance as her heir apparent in Washington.
Ballance is popular in many political circles.
As the leader of the Legislative Black Caucus, Ballance next week will accompany N.C. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., and a delegation of state leaders on a trade and cultural mission to Africa.
It was Ballance who successfully kept Clayton's 1992 campaign on track when other African-American factions threatened to split the 1st District in a crowded primary that followed N.C. General Assembly reapportionment.
The redistricting gave the 1st District a black voter majority.
Thanks in part to peace-making efforts by Ballance before the 1992 general election, Clayton became the first North Carolina African-American and the first woman to go to Congress from North Carolina since the turn of the century.
Before Ballance got black voters to pull together, there was a real chance of a white candidate winning the nomination in the newly created congressional district.
As it was, Clayton ended up in a runoff against Walter B. Jones Jr., of Farmville, who was trying to succeed his late father.
This year the younger Jones is running as a Republican in the adjacent 3rd Congressional District against incumbent Rep. H. Martin Lancaster, D-Goldsboro.
The 3rd District now has a predominantly white voter registration under the same voting rights legislative guidelines that created the ``minority-majority'' 1st District.
The 1992 Democratic primary - involving three whites and several black candidates, including Clayton - clearly defined African-American ambitions in the new district.
Not running but very much in evidence behind the scenes was state Rep. Milton F. Fitch Jr., D-Wilson, a powerful black legislative leader who has acknowledged his desire to ``someday'' be elected to Congress.
Other African-American Democrats in the primary included Willie Riddick, of Bertie County, a former aide to the late Rep. Jones Sr., and Thomas C. Hardaway, a former state representative from Halifax County.
In the end, Ballance managed to swing all of the rival minority candidates behind Clayton.
Now, her political loyalty to Ballance has suggested to many 1st District Democrats that if and when she decides to step down, she will have helped Ballance become the strongest potential candidate to succeed her.
African-American voters have only a slim majority over white voters in the 1st District, and Republicans and conservative Democrats continue to dream of the day when they can win a Congressional election because of fractured black solidarity. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Clayton
KEYWORDS: ELECTION NORTH CAROLINA by CNB