Jesse Helms - The R.I.N.O. on the Right

Note: I wrote this article on July 5, 2004 in order to straighten the Record on Helm's "so-called" Conservative political philosophy. Unfortunately, he passed away on July 4, 2008.

U.S. Senator Jesse Alexander Helms was a RINO (Republican In Name Only) from North Carolina. He is no different than any other RINO in America Politics. Sure, there are issues that Jesse shares with Conservative Republicans, but so does Senators Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.), Olympia Snowe (R.-Maine), John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R.-Maine) - all noted RINO's on the Left in the Republican Party. Jesse was as anti-Republican tradition on the right as the aforementioned Senators are on the left.

Jesse Alexander Helms was a Registered Democrat all of his life until 1972. He was 51 years old when He switched. Jesse supported all of the great segregationists of the Time - J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Richard Russell of Georgia, Sam J Ervin Jr of North Carolina, and many others who were opposed to the Civil Rights of Blacks. In 1972, Jesse Helms took negative advantage of a split in the Democratic Party. His move was very similar to what David Duke did in 1989. In 1972 Republican membership was a paltry 22.9%. hardly enough to be taken seriously anywhere, especially in North Carolina. The Democrat registration was a near unanimous 73.4%. Jesse Helms changes party affiliation to that shell of a Republican Party and soundly defeated Democrat Congressman Nick Galifianakis (54% to 46%). Jesse never abandoned his racist past and segregationist rhetoric. He just changed his Party name. However, without changing their Party name, Democrat voters kept sending Helms back to the U.S. Senate:

1972
North Carolina Registration is 73.4% Democrat, 22.9% Republican
Jesse Helms (R) 54.0, Nick Galifianakis (D) 46.0

1978
North Carolina Registration is 72.6% Democrat, 23.3% Republican
Jesse Helms (R) 54.5, John Ingram (D) 45.5

1984
North Carolina Registration is 70% Democrat, 25.6% Republican
Jesse Helms (R) 51.7, James B Hunt Jr (D) 47.8

1990
North Carolina Registration is 63.7% Democrat, 30.8% Republican
Jesse Helms (R) 52.5, Harvey B Gantt (D) 47.5

1996
North Carolina Registration is 54.4% Democrat, 33.7% Republican
Jesse Helms (R) 52.6, Harvey B Gantt (D) 45.9

Based on the numbers below, no Republican should have won anything in North Carolina. Any serious contender would have to attract huge numbers of Democrat votes:

Sources: NC Center for Public Policy Research, “The Two Party System in NC,” (Raleigh, Dec 1987); NC Free, Sep 1998; and NC State Board of Elections.

Year	% Dem	% Rep.	% Ind
1966	79.7	17.8	N/A
1968	75.5	21.6	2.5
1970	75.3	21.9	2.5
1972	73.4	22.9	3.7
1974	72.6	23.6	3.8
1976	72.5	23.5	4.0
1978	72.6	23.3	4.1
1980	72.4	23.5	4.1
1982	71.9	24.0	4.1
1984	70.0	25.6	4.4
1986	68.6	27.2	4.2
1988	65.6	29.6	4.9
1990	63.7	30.8	5.5
1992	60.6	31.9	7.5
1994	58.6	32.8	8.7
1996	54.4	33.7	11.9
1998	52.7	33.9	13.4
2000	50.6	33.9	15.4

Now if we are to believe the Democrat assertion that Jesse was a racist before and during his Senate career, then we have to also admit that his racism appealed to an extremely large Democrat electorate who kept reelecting him. Subsequently, Democrats in North Carolina also had to be racist, white supremicist, segregationists of the formerly segregated South because the numbers prove that they were his base. Instead of Democrats trying to imagine that racist Democrats in North Carolina became racist Republications in North Carolina, they should be asking the more accurate question why racist Democrats didn't change their views and vote for their Democrat nominee. Nick Galifianakis (1972), John Ingram (1978), James B Hunt Jr (1984), and Harvey Gantt (1990, 1996) never had a chance as long as their party was voting against them and for Jesse.

Jesse Helm's voting record closely resembles the record of any Democrat Senator from the South during his time. As a matter of fact, if he were to have switched back to being a Democrat, he would not have had to change a single position he held as a Republican. His successor we must admit, is hardly a protegé of his. As a matter of fact, neither Senator Elizabeth Dole and her former opponent, Democrat nominee Erskine Bowles, offered the segregationist rhetoric that Jesse did. Consequently, there is a political realignment that is permenant - never going back to those days. This realignment brought a Republican victory, but at least we know that those Democrats who voted for Senator Dole are not expecting to someday legally (re)post those "whites only" signs again.