THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610210040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 95 lines
With good manners and no shouting, Ted Tyler and Eva Clayton seem determined to continue their stately political quadrille all the way to Election Day in the 1st Congressional District of North Carolina.
The 1st District is one of two predominantly African-American voting areas created by the General Assembly five years ago to conform with the federal Voting Rights Act.
Both the new 1st District and the new 12th District between Durham and Gastonia elected black candidates in the past two congressional elections. In the redistricting, the General Assembly gave each district slightly more than 50 percent black voters.
In the 1st Congressional District, it's politics with a difference. Clayton, the Democratic incumbent, and Tyler, the Republican challenger, are polite to each other, even friendly.
Clayton became the first woman and the first African-American to go to Congress from North Carolina in this century. Clayton's 1st District runs down eastern North Carolina from the Virginia border almost to South Carolina and has sparked criticism because of its unusual shape.
Clayton has assembled a team of powerful African-American politicians from her home neighborhood of Warren County.
Her organization is headed by state Sen. Frank W. Ballance Jr., D-Warren, a leader in the General Assembly's strong Black Caucus.
Tyler, meanwhile, has had little help from either the state or national GOP. He is a pharmaceutical salesman, and his campaign staff consists of his grown children and his wife, Kaye Tyler.
But two previous defeats in 1st District races haven't discouraged Tyler.
His political platform is unchanged:
``We've got to balance the federal budget - an unbalanced budget is still at the root of most of our national problems,'' Tyler said from his home over the weekend.
``I argued for a balanced budget when I started running five years ago and I haven't changed my mind,'' Tyler said.
This year Tyler has spent more time and money on the campaign trail, and he thinks his chances are better than ever.
``I've always had a lot of friends, and folks know me from my business traveling,'' Tyler said. ``But now I think they're realizing that I'm determined to win.
``And this is the year.''
In her years in Washington, Clayton has maintained a no-nonsense position. From the beginning she has recognized that the 1st District has a problem with poverty, and she has shaped her policy accordingly.
She has supported President Clinton, but she has also called her own shots back home.
Clayton has backed programs that help farmers, particularly poor farmers, and has voted for welfare programs that benefit her constituents with marginal incomes.
And while hostile campaigning and name-calling have become a part of electioneering in North Carolina, Clayton and Tyler continue to be mannerly to each other. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
EVA CLAYTON
After the 1992 North Carolina redistricting, Eva M. Clayton easily
won election to the remapped 1st Congressional District and in the
process became the first woman and the first African American to go
to Congress from North Carolina in this century.
Clayton doesn't list her age on her resume, but colleagues say she
is in her early 60s. She was born in Savannah and has been active
in Democratic politics since graduating from Johnson C. Smith
University. She has a master's degree from North Carolina Central
University.
Clayton was a member of the Warren County Board of Commissioners for
10 years. When she went to Congress in 1992, she was the first
woman to be elected president of the Democratic freshman class. She
has been married to Theaoseus T. Clayton Sr. for 40 years, and they
are the parents of four children.
TED TYLER
Ted Tyler is the Republican candidate for U.S. representative from
the 1st Congressional District of North Carolina. This will be the
third time Tyler has run against Clayton. In two previous races she
won easily.
Tyler, 61, was born in Northampton County, the son of farming
parents.
He was educated in local schools and graduated from Wake Forest
University with a degree in political science.
He served as mayor of Rich Square for 10 years and has been active
in local government of Northampton County. He has lived in Rich
Square for most of his life.
He has been employed as a pharmaceutical salesman by Squibb for 27
years.
He is married to Kathryn Jackson Tyler, and they have three grown
children.
KEYWORDS: U.S. CONGRESSIONAL RACE NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE
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