Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory will face Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the N.C. governor's race, the outsider mayor against the state's No. 2 executive.
Voters will choose between a seasoned mayor who won allies across party lines and a female legislator who broke barriers in two branches of government.
McCrory wants to debate Perdue "many, many, many times throughout the state," he told a crowd in Charlotte Tuesday night. "We need to debate the culture of the status quo, the old politics of North Carolina. I plan to bring a new culture."
With 93 of 100 counties reporting, McCrory was leading four other Republicans with 47 percent.
Perdue, a Democrat, led with 56 percent to State Treasurer Richard Moore's 40 percent.
"The real difference was the decision we made to stay focused on the issues that mattered to voters," Perdue said. "Everywhere I went, people talked about the economy, concerns with health care, and affordable college, the price of gas."
Perdue, the state's first female lieutenant governor, is the candidate of the Democratic establishment whose power base is in the east. The eastern part of the state is also home to much of the party's leadership.
Perdue will be the experienced candidate, inheriting the leadership of the party that has run state government for nearly all of the past century. Democratic legislative and fundraising leaders lined up behind her long ago.
As she's done throughout the campaign, she will talk of using her office to advance health programs, such as anti-teen smoking efforts, and to protect the state's military bases from closing.
McCrory, who plans to continue his term as mayor while campaigning, will run as the leader of the state's largest city, where new towers and the NASCAR Hall of Fame are rising in the skyline.
He'll hammer the idea of his distance from Raleigh, geographically and philosophically. McCrory has already positioned himself as the change candidate, arguing for an overhaul in Raleigh if voters will give him a chance.
He will be aided by the moderate image that will likely appeal to the influx of new voters who have poured into the state.
"The mountains and Charlotte have not been represented enough in Raleigh," said Mildred Hill, 88, of Charlotte. She voted for Richard Moore in the Democratic primary but suspects she'll switch to McCrory in November.
Handicaps loom for both candidates. Perdue has to avoid being pegged as the status quo candidate as a Democrat, the party in power and one stained with scandal over the past year. McCrory will have to unite an historically divided Republican Party and lure money from business donors who traditionally give more to Democrats in state races.
Perdue handily dispatched Moore in what Democrats long dreaded would turn into a mutual bludgeoning. Instead, almost a month ago Perdue declared an end to her negative ads.
Vincent Snipes, a 38-year-old math professor at Winston-Salem State University, met Moore when he greeted diners at a K&W Cafeteria in Winston-Salem Monday. He said he voted for Perdue in part because she ended her negative commercials.
"Let me know what you're going to do" as governor, Snipes said. The attack ads are "kind of a turn-off."
Moore said the issues he raised, such as property tax relief for seniors and raising the minimum wage, were picked up by Perdue and other Democratic candidates.
"We've set the agenda for the campaign this fall," Moore said in a brief appearance at his Raleigh headquarters.
Perdue and Moore, differing little on core issues, questioned each other's trustworthiness. Perdue accused Moore of pay-to-play politics with Wall Street firms that both gave to his campaign and received contracts for business with the treasurer's office. Moore tagged Perdue, most recently, for once voting against a bill that made it easier to investigate hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
A group of prominent African-American Perdue supporters and former Gov. Jim Hunt denounced the ad.
