THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090324
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Rep. Mel Watt coasted to a second term Tuesday over long-shot challenger Joe Martino in a district that was drawn specifically to favor a minority candidate.
Watt took 73 percent of the vote in early returns, to 27 percent for Martino.
Watt and Rep. Eva Clayton of the 1st District were sent to Congress in 1992 as the first black representatives from North Carolina since 1901.
Watt's district, which stretches along Interstate 85 from Gastonia to Durham, is being challenged in federal court as ``racial gerrymandering.''
The case is back before the U.S. Supreme Court after a three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the districts represented by Watt and Clayton were constitutional.
Martino, a Salisbury physician making his first bid for public office, said he was a long-shot candidate but campaigned with a few thousand dollars in contributions hoping for an upset.
Unlike other Democrats in the state, Watt invited President Clinton to come to the 12th District and campaign for him.
Clinton did not make the trip, which came as a relief to other Democrats fearful that an appearance by Clinton would hurt their election chances.
Watt, 49, was appointed to the state Senate in 1985.
He is a close friend of former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, and managed Gantt's unsuccessful campaign to defeat Sen. Jesse Helms in 1990.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION NORTH CAROLINA RESULTS by CNB