Editing Jesse Helms (section)

===Senate campaign of 1972===
{{Main|1972 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

Helms announced his candidacy for a seat in the [[United States Senate]] in 1972. His Republican primary campaign was managed by [[Thomas F. Ellis]], who would later be instrumental in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s 1976 campaign and also become the chair of the [[National Congressional Club]]. Helms took the Republican primary, winning 92,496 votes, or 60.1%, in a three-candidate field.<ref name="SouthNow 46">{{cite web|title=North Carolina DataNet #46 |url=http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927181120/http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |date=April 2008 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina]] |access-date=June 12, 2009 }}</ref> Meanwhile, Democrats retired the ailing Senator [[B. Everett Jordan]], who lost his primary to Congressman [[Nick Galifianakis (politician)|Nick Galifianakis]]. The latter represented the "new politics" of voters who included the young, African Americans voting since federal legislation removed discriminatory restrictions, and anti-establishment activists, who were based in and around the urban [[Research Triangle]] and [[Piedmont Triad]]. Although Galifianakis was a "liberal" by North Carolina standards, he opposed [[Desegregation busing in the United States|busing]] to achieve integration in schools.<ref>{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Defeat of Jordan by Rep. Galifianakis In Carolina is Linked to 'New Politics{{'-}} |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 5, 1972 |page=26 }}</ref>

Polls put Galifianakis well ahead until late in the campaign, but Helms, facing all but certain defeat, hired a professional campaign manager, F. Clifton White, giving him dictatorial control over campaign strategy. While Galifianakis avoided mention of his party's presidential candidate, the liberal [[George McGovern]],<ref name="Major races in NC seem close">{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Major Races in North Carolina Seem Close |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 28, 1972 |page=14 }}</ref> Helms employed the slogans "McGovernGalifianakis – one and the same", "Vote for Jesse. Nixon Needs Him" and "Jesse: He's One of Us", an implicit play suggesting his opponent's Greek heritage made him somehow less "American".<ref name="Conservative Republican Victor" /><ref name="Major races in NC seem close" /> Helms won the support of numerous Democrats, especially in the conservative eastern part of the state. Galifianakis tried to woo Republicans by noting that Helms had earlier criticized Nixon as being too left-wing.<ref name="Major races in NC seem close"/><ref name="Democrats Gain 2 Seats">{{cite news |first=Warren |last=Weaver |title=Democrats Gain 2 Seats and have 57–43 Majority |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 9, 1972 |page=25 }}</ref>

In a taste of things to come, money poured into the race. Helms spent a record $654,000,<ref name="It'll be a yes">{{cite news |title=North Carolina; It'll be a yes for Senator No |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=February 11, 1978 |page=42 }}</ref> much of it going toward carefully crafted television commercials portraying him as a soft-spoken mainstream conservative. In the final six weeks of the campaign, Helms outspent Galifianakis three-to-one.<ref name="Major races in NC seem close" /> Though the year was marked by Democratic gains in the Senate,<ref name="Democrats Gain 2 Seats" /> Helms won 54 percent of the vote to Galifianakis's 46 percent. He was elected as the first Republican senator from the state since 1903, before senators were directly elected, and when the Republican Party stood for a different tradition.<ref name="Conservative Republican Victor">{{cite news |first=Linda |last=Charlton |title=Conservative Republican Victor in North Carolina Senate Race |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 8, 1972 |page=5 }}</ref> Helms was helped by [[Richard Nixon]]'s gigantic landslide victory in that year's presidential election;<ref name="Pundit to Pol">{{cite news|first=John |last=Gizzi |title=Jesse Helms: Pundit to Pol |url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |work=[[Human Events]] |date=July 5, 2008 |access-date=July 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108083837/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |archive-date=January 8, 2009 }}</ref> Nixon carried North Carolina by 40 points.