James Thomas Broyhill
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James Thomas Broyhill (born 19 August 1927), usually known as Jim Broyhill, is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of North Carolina. He represented much of the Foothills region of the state in the United States House of Representatives from 1963 to 1986, and briefly represented North Carolina in the United States Senate in 1986.
He was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, the youngest son of North Carolina furniture magnate J. E. Broyhill. The senior Broyhill was a member of the Republican National Committee for 28 years, but for most of that time the party had virtually no presence anywhere in the former Confederacy, including North Carolina. Jim Broyhill joined his father's company in 1945 and served in various capacities there until 1962. He was also active in several state industry associations, as well as a civic leader in Lenoir.
He made his first run for elected office in 1962 for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, and defeated five-term Democratic incumbent Hugh Quincy Alexander by just under one percentage point. Broyhill was the unexpected beneficiary of redistricting after the 1960 census, which cost North Carolina a congressional district. The Democratic-controlled General Assembly saw a chance to get rid of the then lone Republican in the congressional delegation, Charles Raper Jonas of the Charlotte area. In the process, they shifted some strongly Republican areas into the 9th, a district where growing Republican influence had kept Alexander from establishing a foothold. At the same time, they shifted some Democratic areas of the 9th into the new 8th District designed to defeat Jonas. However, the plan backfired disastrously when Jonas unseated 8th District incumbent A. Paul Kitchin and Broyhill unseated Alexander.
Broyhill never faced another contest nearly that close again. Due to his very conservative stances on nearly all issues and an emphasis on taking good care of his constituents (most of whom had never been represented by a Republican before), he became very popular in his district. He won reelection by 11 points in the midst of the gigantic Democratic landslide of 1964, in which Lyndon Johnson carried 87 of North Carolina's 100 counties. Broyhill won reelection 10 times thereafter, never receiving less than 54 percent of the vote and only winning by less than 10 points twice. His district (renumbered the 10th in 1969) became the most Republican district in North Carolina.
In July 1986, Senator John P. East, who was not seeking reelection, committed suicide. Broyhill had already won the Republican nomination for the race to succeed East, but Governor Jim Martin appointed Broyhill to the seat until the November elections. The plan was to give Broyhill a leg up on the Democratic nominee, former governor Terry Sanford. However, the gambit failed when Sanford narrowly defeated Broyhill in November. Sanford took office immediately because there had been two elections that night--the regular Senate election and a special election to fill the remainder of East's term.
Broyhill remains active in North Carolina Republican politics as an "elder statesman." He now lives in Winston-Salem. His son Ed was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 5th District in 2004.
| Preceded by: John Porter East | Senators from North Carolina | Succeeded by: Terry Sanford |
| Served alongside: Jesse Helms | ||