Wayne County Republicans set their sights on November
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 30, 2014 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/SETH MABRY
U.S. Rep. George Holding, left, speaks with Vic Miller of Goldsboro during Saturday's Republican Party convention.
News-Argus/SETH MABRY
State Rep. Jimmy Dixon raises his hand to be recognized during the Wayne County Republican Convention.
Wayne County and North Carolina will be "ground zero" for Republicans if they are to be successful in their efforts to wrest control of the U.S. Senate from the Democrats, Congressman George Holding told local Republicans on Saturday.
"Firing" Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan, along with opposing Obamacare and the Common Core course of study were the favorite targets of the party faithful who gathered for the Wayne County GOP Convention held at the Wayne Center.
The group went as far to adopt a resolution calling for President Obama's impeachment. Also approved were resolutions in support of Israel and the dismantling of the federal departments of education and energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
But the common thread focused on defeating Mrs. Hagan and electing a Senate that would act on bills offered by the Republican-controlled House.
Holding warned that Republicans can expect to see a large influx of outside money coming into the state in an effort to keep Mrs. Hagan in office.
There are eight candidates in the May primary vying for the chance to challenge Mrs. Hagan in November.
"If the election was held next Tuesday, I think we would capture the Senate," Holding said in an interview. "The Senate would be a Republican majority, but it is months before the election, and that is a lot of time and politics.
"No one needs to be lulled into a false sense of security that this election is going to be easy. It is going to be hard. It is going to be hard-fought. Elections, you can raise more money, but can never create more time."
It is important that Republicans not waste any time getting organized, he said.
"North Carolina statewide, you've got to remember Obama carried North Carolina in 2008 and then narrowly lost it in 2012," he said. "That means North Carolina is a state in play. You will find there will be outside groups from all over the country coming into North Carolina. They will spend tens of millions of dollars here trying to influence the election.
"The best way for North Carolinians, conservative Republicans in North Carolina, to assure we win is to get out and organize from the ground up."
The need for a Republican-controlled Senate is simple, he said.
"We have passed in the House over 150 bills going to try to address the president using executive orders to go beyond his constitutional authority as president," he said. "Go to regulatory reform. We are burdened with over regulation by the federal government. We have passed bills to address that.
"We have passed bills to try to authorize and start work on the Keystone Pipeline, address energy costs. There are a whole slew of bills, but when they go to the Senate (Majority Leader Harry) Reid won't even bring them up for a vote. So if we have a majority in the Senate, we can pass these bills out of the Congress and put them in front of Obama and try to force him to sign them."
Holding urged those present to get busy.
"So people in this room are fired up and ready to make a difference," he said. "The task is to take the people from this room and get each one of them to get out and get 100 people fired up.
"These people are engaged. They follow politics and policy. They want to make a difference, but they have got to go out and talk to other people."
Holding reiterated that the outside money that is expected to flood the state will be one of the biggest challenges the GOP will face. Those tens of million dollars buys a lot of advertising time, he said.
"You have to combat that with more than a 15-second response," he said. "The biggest challenge is for them to sit down and talk with people about conservatism and small government and small government solutions. It is really easy to come out and say that the government can fix your problems. It is a little more difficult to explain that the government can't fix your problems. The best thing the government can do is get out of your way so that you can fix your own problems."