Editing Jesse Helms (section)

===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>