Editing Jesse Helms (section)

==Third Senate term (1985–1991)==
In 1989, Helms hired [[James Meredith]], most famous as the first African American ever admitted to the [[University of Mississippi]], as a domestic policy adviser to his Senate office staff.<ref name="Gates ATEA 1290">{{cite book | last=Gates | first=Henry Louis | author2=Anthony Appiah | title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience | work=[[The Washington Times]] | year=1999 | isbn=0-465-00071-1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1290 1290] | url=https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1290 | access-date=July 14, 2008 }}</ref>  Meredith noted that Helms was the only member of the Senate to respond to his offer.<ref name="Hallow TWT 6 Jy">{{cite web | last =Hallow | first =Ralph Z. | title=Limiting government fueled Helms' political life | work=[[The Washington Times]] | date=July 6, 2008 | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/06/limiting-government-fueled-helms-political-life/ | access-date=July 14, 2008}}</ref>

In 1989, Helms successfully lobbied for an amendment to the [[Americans with Disabilities Act]], legislation protecting [[disability rights]] that exempted [[pedophilia]], [[schizophrenia]], and [[kleptomania]] from the conditions against which discrimination was barred. Additionally, Helms proposed an amendment to exempt [[transvestism]], which the Senate adopted.<ref name="Congressional Record, September 8, 1989.">{{USCongRec|1989|S10832|date=September 7, 1989}} </ref> Even though the Helms amendments were kept in the final ADA bill that passed Congress in 1990, Helms twice voted against the bill.<ref name="Rasky NYT 8 Se 1989">{{cite news | last = Rasky | first =Susan | title=Senate Adopts Sweeping Measure To Protect Rights of the Disabled | work=[[The New York Times]] | page=A-1 | date=September 8, 1989 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/08/us/senate-adopts-sweeping-measure-to-protect-rights-of-the-disabled.html | access-date=November 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Holmes NYT 14 Jy 1990">{{cite news | last = Holmes | first =Steven A. | title=Rights Bill for Disabled Is Sent to Bush | work=[[The New York Times]] | page=6 | date=July 14, 1990 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/14/us/rights-bill-for-disabled-is-sent-to-bush.html | access-date=November 20, 2009}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
Although Helms was returned to office, and became the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, [[Richard Lugar]] of [[Indiana]] became its chair,<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Dole wins top job in Senate |work=[[The Times]] |page=1 |date=November 29, 1984 }}</ref> after Helms and Lugar cut a deal to keep liberals out of top committee posts.<ref name="Senate plots a moderate course">{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Senate plots a moderate course |work=[[The Times]] |page=8 |date=November 30, 1984 }}</ref> Despite pressure to claim the Foreign Relations chair, Helms kept the Agriculture chair, as he had pledged in his campaign.<ref name="Senate plots a moderate course" />

A "purge" of the State Department by [[George P. Shultz]] in early 1985, replacing conservatives with moderates,<ref name="Christmas massacre by">{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Thomas |title=Christmas massacre by ruthless Shultz |work=[[The Times]] |page=6 |date=December 31, 1984 }}</ref> was heavily opposed by the Helms-led conservatives. They unsuccessfully attempted to block the appointment of [[Rozanne L. Ridgway]], [[Richard Burt]], and [[Edwin G. Corr]] as ambassadors, arguing that Shultz was appointing diplomats who were not loyal to President Reagan's philosophy,<ref>{{cite news |first=Mohsin |last=Ali |title=Senate hawks give way as Burt gets Bonn post |work=[[The Times]] |page=7 |date=July 17, 1985 }}</ref> particularly in Latin America.<ref name="Christmas massacre by" /> In August 1985, Helms threatened to lead a filibuster against a bill imposing sanctions on South Africa, delaying it until after summer recess.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Binyon |title=Big House majority for sanctions, but Helms holds up the Senate |work=[[The Times]] |page=5 |date=August 2, 1985 }}</ref>

In early 1986, Panamanian dissident Winston Spadafora visited Helms and requested that the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs hold hearings on Panama. Ignoring [[Elliott Abrams]]' request for a softer line towards Panama, Helms—a long-time critic of [[Manuel Noriega|Noriega]]—agreed, and the hearings uncovered the large degree of leeway that the U.S. government, and particularly the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], had been giving to Noriega.<ref>Kinzer (2006), p. 246–7</ref> After the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] encountered opposition from [[Oliver North]] in investigating Noriega's role in drug trafficking, Helms teamed up with [[John Kerry]] to introduce an amendment to the [[Intelligence Authorization Act]] demanding that the CIA investigate the [[Panama Defense Forces]]' potential involvement.<ref>Kinzer (2006), p. 247</ref> In 1988, after Noriega was indicted on charges including drug trafficking,<ref name="Consul asserts CIA">{{cite news |first=Elaine |last=Sciolino |title=Consul Asserts C.I.A. Aided in Panama Cover-Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/10/world/consul-asserts-cia-aided-in-panama-cover-up.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 10, 1988 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> a former Panamanian [[consul general]] and chief of political intelligence testified to the subcommittee, detailing Panama's compiling of evidence on its political opponents in the United States, including Senators Helms and [[Ted Kennedy]], with the assistance of the CIA and [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]].<ref name="Consul asserts CIA" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Pichirallo |last=Joe |title=Noriega Got CIA Data, Panel Told; Reports Are Said To Include Details On Kennedy, Helms |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 10, 1988 }}</ref> Helms proposed that the government suspend the Carter-Torrijos treaties unless Noriega were extradited within thirty days.<ref>{{cite book |title=In the Shadow of the United States |last=Soler Torrijos |first=Giancarlo |year=2008 |publisher=[[Brown Walker Press]] |location=Boca Raton, Florida |isbn=978-1-59942-439-2 |page=153 }}</ref>

In July 1986, after [[Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri]] was burned alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/09/world/chile-burn-case-anguish-and-anger.html|first=Shirley|last=Christian|title=Chile Burn Case: Anguish and Anger |date=July 9, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/07/Week-in-commemoration-to-victim-of-Chilean-army-attack/4394552628800/print|title=Week in commemoration to victim of Chilean army attack|first=Paul|last=Walsh|date=July 7, 1986|publisher=UPI}}</ref> Helms said that DeNegri and his companion Carmen Quintana Arancibia were "Communist terrorists" who had earlier been sighted setting fire to a barricade.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/26/world/around-the-world-explosion-wounds-24-near-chilean-palace.html?pagewanted=print|title=Around the World; Explosion Wounds 24 Near Chilean Palace |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1986}}</ref> Helms also criticized [[United States Ambassador to Chile]] [[Harry G. Barnes Jr.]] for attending DeNegri's funeral, saying Barnes "planted the American flag in the midst of a Communist activity" and President Reagan would have sent him home were he there.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/14/world/helms-in-chile-denounces-us-envoy.html|title=Helms, in Chile, Denounces U.S. Envoy |first=Shirley|last=Christian|date=July 14, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> The following month, the Justice Department disclosed information to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that linked Helms and a sensitive intelligence matter of the Chile government.<ref name=Chile1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/05/us/helms-declares-officials-harass-him.html|title=HELMS DECLARES OFFICIALS HARASS HIM|date=August 5, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Helms responded to the disclosure by telling reporters that the Justice Department "want to intimidate me and harass me, and it's not going to work" and said that both the Justice Department and himself were aware he had "violated no rules of classification".<ref name=Chile1/> In a letter to Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]], Helms made a request of the Justice Department to investigate if he or members of his staff had been spied on during the Chile visit and called the charges against him "frivolous and false indictment".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/12/us/helms-says-intelligence-agencies-may-have-spied-on-him-in-chile.html|title=Helms Says Intelligence Agencies May Have Spied on Him in Chile |date=August 12, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

Helms became interested in the [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]], and in October 1990 his committee staff chief and longest-serving aide, [[James P. Lucier]], prepared a report stating that it was probable there were live American prisoners still being held in Vietnam and that the [[George H. W. Bush administration]] was complicit in hiding the facts.<ref name="link-398">Link (2008) pp. 397–398</ref> The report also alleged that the Soviet Union had held American prisoners after the end of [[World War II]], and more may have been transferred there during the [[Korean War]] and during the Vietnam War.<ref name="link-398"/> (Lucier also believed that survivors of the 1983 shoot-down of [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]] were being held prisoner by the Soviets.<ref name="link-398"/>) Helms stated that the "deeper story" was a possible "deliberate effort by certain people in the government to disregard all information or reports about living MIA-POWs".<ref name="link-398"/> This was followed up in May 1991 by a minority report of the Foreign Relations Committee, released by Helms and titled ''An Examination of US Policy Toward POW/MIAs'', which made similar claims and concluded that "any evidence that suggested an MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected ..."<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] | title=Report Rips U.S. Efforts For MIAs | agency=[[Associated Press]] | date=May 24, 1991 | page= 14A}}</ref> The issuing of the report caused other Republicans on the committee to become angry, and charges were made that the report contained errors, innuendo, and unsubstantiated rumors.<ref name="link-398"/><ref name="nyt010892"/> This and other personnel matters led to Helms firing Lucier and eight other staff members in January 1992.<ref name="nyt010892">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10616F63E590C7B8CDDA80894DA494D81 | title=Panel's Top G.O.P. Staff Is Dismissed by Helms | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=January 8, 1992}}</ref><ref>Link (2008) pp. 400–401</ref><ref name="ttn92">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nTAaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5725,4193942&dq=helms+letter+yeltsin&hl=en | title=Helms aides react to reports of POWs in former Soviet Union | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|Times-News]] | date=June 20, 1992 | page=8A }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Helms subsequently distanced himself from the POW/MIA issue.<ref name="link-398"/><ref name="ttn92"/>  (The aides claimed vindication later in 1992 when Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] said that the Soviet Union had  kept some U.S. prisoners in the early 1950s.<ref name="ttn92"/>)

===HIV legislation===
{{Main|Helms AIDS Amendments}}
In 1987, Helms added an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act, which directed the president to use executive authority to add HIV infection to the list of excludable diseases that prevent both travel and immigration to the United States.<ref name=AIDS-law>{{cite book |title= AIDS and the Law: A Basic Guide for the Nonlawyer |last= Teri |first= Allan H. |year= 1992 |publisher= Taylor & Francis |isbn= 1-56032-218-7 |page= [https://archive.org/details/aidslawbasicguid0000terl/page/78 78] |url= https://archive.org/details/aidslawbasicguid0000terl/page/78 }}</ref> The action was opposed by the U.S. Public Health Service. Congress restored the executive authority to remove HIV from the list of excludable conditions in the 1990 Immigration Reform Act, and in January 1991, Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan announced he would delete HIV from the list of excludable conditions. A letter-writing campaign headed by Helms ultimately convinced President Bush not to lift the ban, and left the United States the only industrialized nation in the world to prohibit travel based on HIV status.<ref name=Looking>{{cite book |title= Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life |last= Blumenfeld |first= Warren J.|author2=Diane Christine Raymond |year= 1993 |publisher= Beacon Press |isbn= 0-8070-7923-5 |pages= 335–6}}</ref> The travel ban was also responsible for the cancellation of the 1992 International AIDS Conference in Boston.<ref name=AIDS-law /> On January 5, 2010, the 22-year-old ban was lifted after having been signed by President [[Barack Obama]] on October 30, 2009.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/04/us.hiv.visa/index.html|publisher=[[CNN]]| title=U.S. lifts restriction on visas to HIV-positive foreigners|access-date=May 6, 2010|date=January 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/30/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5462425.shtml|work=[[CBS News]]|title=Obama Lifts Travel Ban for HIV-Positive|first=Brian|last=Montopoli|date=October 30, 2009|archive-date=January 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122061606/https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/30/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5462425.shtml}}</ref>

Helms was "bitterly opposed" to federal financing for research and treatment of AIDS,<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/00helms.html?hp |title= Jesse Helms Dies at 86; Conservative Force in the Senate |date=July 5, 2000 |first=Steven A. |last=Holmes}}</ref> which he believed was God's punishment for homosexuals.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Noden|first=Rondi|date=2007|title=Is AIDS God's Judgment Against Homosexuality?: An Argument from Natural Law|work=Cedarville University Center for Bioethics|url=https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=cedar_ethics_online|access-date=October 15, 2021}}</ref> He introduced an [[Helms AIDS Amendments|amendment to a 1987 spending bill]] that prohibited the use of federal tax dollars for any  [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] educational materials that would "promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities".<ref name="Temple">{{cite book |last1=Rimmerman |first1=Craig A. |title=From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States |date=2002 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-56639-905-0 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0BexugIsxsC&pg=PA94 |access-date=September 10, 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Helms |first1=Jesse |title=S.Amdt.963 to H.R.3058 – 100th Congress (1987–1988) |url=https://www.congress.gov/amendment/100th-congress/senate-amendment/963 |website=www.congress.gov |access-date=September 10, 2021 |date=October 14, 1987}}</ref>

Opposing the [[Ted Kennedy|Kennedy]]-[[Orrin Hatch|Hatch]] AIDS bill in 1988, Helms incorrectly stated, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to [[sodomy]]".<ref>Quoting the [[States News Service]] (May 17, 1988) in {{cite news|title=Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86|first=JOHANNA |last=NEUMAN|date=
July 5, 2008|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-helms5-2008jul05-story.html}}</ref> When [[Ryan White]], who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion he received at age 13, died in 1990, his mother went to Congress to speak to politicians on behalf of people with AIDS. She spoke to 23 representatives; Helms refused to speak to Jeanne White, even when she was alone with him in an elevator.<ref>{{cite news |work=POZ |url= http://www.poz.com/articles/236_12435.shtml |title= Life After Ryan |date=January 1997 |first= Phil Geoffrey |last= Bond}}</ref> Despite opposition by Helms, the [[Ryan White Care Act]] passed in 1990.

In 1988, Helms convinced congress to implement a ban on federal funding for [[needle exchange program]]s, arguing that spending federal money on such programs was tantamount to "federal endorsement of drug abuse".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/us/surge-in-cases-of-hiv-tests-us-policy-on-needle-exchanges.html | title=Surge in Cases of H.I.V. Tests U.S. Policy on Needle Exchanges | work=The New York Times | date=May 16, 2015 | access-date=November 26, 2015 | author=Hulse, Carl}}</ref>

As late as 2002, Helms continued to claim that the "homosexual lifestyle" was the cause of the spread of AIDS in the United States, and he remained opposed to spending money on AIDS research.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clymer |first1=Adam |title=Helms Reverses Opposition to Help on AIDS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/26/us/helms-reverses-opposition-to-help-on-aids.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=6 June 2022 |date=26 March 2002}}</ref>

===1990 re-election campaign===
{{Main|1990 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

In the 1990 Republican primary, Helms had two opponents, George Wimbish (as in 1984) and L.C. Nixon; Helms won with 84.3% of the vote.<ref name="SouthNow 46" /> The general election was nationally publicized and rancorous. Helms ran against former [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] mayor [[Harvey Gantt]] in his "bid to become the nation's only black senator" and "the first black elected to the Senate from [[Southern United States|the South]] since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]".<ref name="The 1990 Election"/><ref name="Lee Jy 8">{{cite web|last=Lee |first=Deron |title=Ad Spotlight Classic: Jesse Helms, 1990 |work=National Journal |date=July 8, 2008 |url=http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |access-date=July 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003125841/http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |archive-date=October 3, 2008 }}</ref>

The North Carolina GOP and others mailed over 125,000 notices (almost exclusively to black voters) telling them that they were not eligible to vote and warned that if they went to the polls they could be prosecuted for voter fraud.<ref>[https://www.apnews.com] | February 27, 1992 | Helms' Campaign Denies It Tried to Intimidate Black Voters |
AP | [https://www.apnews.com/52589f9f339ea20d62e3c217fdecae1e] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410193217/https://www.apnews.com/52589f9f339ea20d62e3c217fdecae1e|date=April 10, 2019}}</ref> At the behest of several civil rights groups and the Democratic National Party, the US Department of Justice sued the Helms campaign, the NC GOP, four lobbying firms and two individual lobbyists.<ref>[https://apps.washingtonpost.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114130145/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/|date=November 14, 2018}} | The Department of Justice makes case against 1990 Helms campaign and North Carolina GOP | washingtonpost.com © 1996–2019 The Washington Post | [https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/the-department-of-justice-makes-case-against-1990-helms-campaign-and-north-carolina-gop/3323/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228210707/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/the-department-of-justice-makes-case-against-1990-helms-campaign-and-north-carolina-gop/3323/|date=December 28, 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com] | November 2, 1990 | THE 1990 CAMPAIGN; Democrats Accuse G.O.P. of Voter Intimidation in Two States | AP | [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/02/us/the-1990-campaign-democrats-accuse-gop-of-voter-intimidation-in-two-states.html]</ref> Thomas Farr, campaign manager for Helms, disavowed any knowledge of the dirty tricks, which was shown to be false when his hand written notes were discovered.  The affected parties acknowledged and agreed to the Justice Departments' ruling and were forced to desist from any other such activities.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/06/us/the-1990-campaign-judge-assails-gop-mailing-in-carolina.html |title = The 1990 Campaign; Judge Assails G.O.P. Mailing in Carolina|newspaper = The New York Times|date = November 6, 1990|last1 = Ayres|first1 = B. Drummond Jr.}}</ref>

Helms aired a late-running television commercial titled "[[Hands (advertisement)|Hands]]",<ref>Helms's 'Hands' anti-[[affirmative action]] campaign ad on YouTube, item KIyewCdXMzk</ref> also known as 'White Hands,' that showed a white man's hands crumpling up an employment rejection notice while a voiceover said, "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is."<ref name="Lee Jy 8"/><ref name="Sex in Adverti">{{cite book | last=Reichert | first=Tom | author2=Jacqueline Lambiase | title=Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal | publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates | year=2002 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZivAGEvtpDcC | access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn=978-0-8058-4118-3 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Age of Propaganda">{{cite book | last = Pratkanis | first =Anthony |author2=Elliot Aronson | title=Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion | publisher=Macmillan| year=2001 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LsuMoEtSV4C| access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8050-7403-1}}</ref><ref name="Cornwell 7 Jy">{{cite news | last = Cornwell | first =Rupert | title=Jesse Helms: Powerful Republican senator who championed right-wing causes during three decades in Congress | work=The Independent | date=July 7, 2008 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jesse-helms-powerful-republican-senator-who-championed-rightwing-causes-during-three-decades-in-congress-861290.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jesse-helms-powerful-republican-senator-who-championed-rightwing-causes-during-three-decades-in-congress-861290.html |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live| access-date=July 8, 2008 | location=London}}</ref><ref name="the Mommy War">{{cite book | last=Peskowitz | first=Miriam | title=The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides what Makes a Good Mother? | publisher=Seal Press | year=2005 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBsKhHpjl5oC | access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn=978-1-58005-129-3 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The advertisement was produced by [[Alex Castellanos]], whom Helms would employ until his company was dropped in April 1996 after running an unusually hard-hitting ad.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert Marshall |last=Wells |title=Bounced by Helms, Consultant Rebounds |url=http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/NC/CQ.news.shtml |publisher=CNN |date=April 30, 1996 |access-date=July 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223212311/http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/NC/CQ.news.shtml |archive-date=February 23, 2010 }}</ref> Another Helms television commercial accused Gantt of running a "secret campaign" in homosexual communities and of being committed to "mandatory gay rights laws" including "requiring local schools to hire gay teachers".<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/31/us/an-underdog-forces-helms-into-a-surprisingly-tight-race.html |title=An Underdog Forces Helms Into a Surprisingly Tight Race |location=Moscow (Ussr); Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics (Ussr) |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 31, 1990 |access-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref>

Helms won the election with 1,087,331 votes (52.5 percent) to Gantt's 981,573 (47.4 percent). In his victory statement, Helms noted the unhappiness of some media outlets over his victory, paraphrasing a line from ''[[Casey at the Bat]]'': "There's no joy in Mudville tonight. The mighty ultra-liberal establishment, and the liberal politicians and editors and commentators and columnists have struck out."<ref name="The 1990 Election">{{cite news | last = Applebome | first =Peter | title= The 1990 Elections: Congress – North Carolina; Helms, Basking in Victory, Taunts 'Ultra-Liberal' Foes | work=The New York Times | date=November 7, 1990 | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD81139F934A35752C1A966958260| access-date=July 8, 2008}}</ref>