By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory entered the race for governor Tuesday, making the announcement on the steps of a Jamestown library that once housed his elementary school.
McCrory, 51, a Republican, pledged to solve the state’s road-building problems and rid jails of illegal aliens who have committed crimes.
McCrory was surrounded by about 200 people who held signs with messages of support. There are less than four months until the May 6 Republican primary.
McCrory’s GOP opponents include Salisbury attorney Bill Graham, state Sen. Fred Smith and former Supreme Court justice Bob Orr.
McCrory and Graham have numerous ties, including the fact that they’re both Catawba College graduates and each now serve on the school’s board of directors.
Graham said Tuesday that he and McCrory had discussed McCrory entering the GOP race, though he admitted that conversation took place “awhile ago.”
Graham said he and McCrory remain good friends, and said he feels their competition in the race will be good for Republicans and good for the state.
“If Pat wants to enter, I welcome him,” Graham said.
McCrory graduated from Catawba in 1978, while Graham graduated in 1983.
Graham said he plans to keep running his campaign much as he has been doing since announcing his candidacy last May.
“We’ll continue promoting new ideas and new leadership,” Graham said. “Pat’s candidacy doesn’t affect what I plan to do.”
He said he and McCrory in 2004 traveled together to New York, where they were each delegates to the Republican National Convention.
Graham said the entry by McCrory ó a seven-term mayor ó can’t help but boost interest in the gubernatorial race, especially in the southwestern portion of the state.
“I think that’s a good thing,” Graham said. “This region certainly needs new roads and better schools. Taxes are a problem for all of us. Now we’ll just have to see how voters make up their minds.”
Graham said he never felt he had a lock on the votes of the area’s Republicans.
“You don’t own these voters,” he said. “You have to go out and work for them.”
A professor at Catawba who taught both McCrory and Graham said he’s not surprised at the success the two have enjoyed on the statewide political landscape.
“I’d like to see one be governor and the other be lieutenant governor,” said Dr. Sandy Silverburg, an advisor for both McCrory and Graham at Catawba as well as their political science instructor.
Silverburg declined to say who he’d select for governor and who’d be his lieutenant governor choice.
“I’m keeping that to myself,” he said, laughing.
Silverburg said McCrory and Graham have a great deal in common.
“They’re both solid individuals,” he said. “They were both very good students. They both held their own in conversations. I knew they were going places.
“Either one of them would serve our state well.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.