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RALEIGH, Feb. 18 (AP) — Jim Broyhill, a longtime North Carolina Republican congressman who served briefly in the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy, did not He was able to keep the job, his family said, and he died early Saturday at the age of 95.
Broyhill, a descendant of the Broyhill furniture business in North Carolina’s foothills that brought jobs and prestige to the area, died at the Arbor Acres nursing home in Winston-Salem, according to his son Ed.
He has suffered from congestive heart failure for years, which has worsened in recent months, his son said Saturday.
The moderate Republican has served in the House of Representatives for more than 23 years. Considered a solid conservative, he helped turn North Carolina into a competitive two-party state, especially as the Republican Party achieved national success under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s in the case of.
In a video interview commemorating his state award in 2015, Broyhill recalled the dearth of Republicans on the first state ballot he filled out in 1948.
“I’m determined, and I’m going to do what I can to see if we can’t grow bipartisanship in our state,” Broyhill said.
“And I think I’ve accomplished a lot, but with the help and leadership of many other people.”
Following East’s suicide in June 1986, Republican Governor Jim Martin appointed Broyhill to replace Republican Senator John East.
A month earlier, Broyhill had already defeated David Fenderburke in the Senate Republican primary, which was endorsed by Sen. Jesse Helms, a national group that backs hardline Republicans. East is not seeking re-election due to medical issues.
The Senate appointment is seen as an asset that could help Broyhill defeat former Gov. Terry Sanford, a Democrat and outgoing Duke president, in the fall election. Sanford narrowly defeated Broyhill in two elections that November — one to serve the remainder of 1986 and the other for the next six years.
Expected to be a low-key event initially, the event took on the intensity of a modern, more divisive one. Reagan came to Charlotte to campaign for Broy Hill. In a recent interview, Martin said he wasn’t sure whether appointing Broyhill to the Senate would ultimately help his campaign.
“He can’t spend as much time campaigning because he’s so dependent on fulfilling his Senate duties,” Martin said.
Broyhill’s Capitol Hill career began with a surprise victory in the US House of Representatives in 1962.
According to Martin’s biography, when Democrats tried to redistrict the only Republican district in the House delegation after the 1960 census in hopes of defeating him, the adjoining district became more Republican.
That opened the door for Broyhill, who has worked in the family business for nearly two decades, to disappoint Democratic incumbent Hugh Quincy Alexander.
While he never served in the Republican-controlled chamber before being appointed by the Senate, Broyhill has flexed his political muscle in the House for a Republican presidential administration and built support for their agenda with Democrats.
In an interview highlighting his 2015 award, Broyhill recalled the legislation he helped pass to create the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Broyhill’s family and others cited his efforts to shape energy policy and deregulate the telecommunications, pharmaceutical and trucking industries.
Frank Drendel, founder of Hickory-based coaxial cable producer CommScope, said Saturday that Broyhill passed a law in 1978 so that cable companies could Cables connect to other utility poles, which helped the cable industry take off.
Broyhill “set an example, which we sadly don’t have much of today, of crossing the aisle and proposing nonpartisan solutions,” said former Glaxo Wellcome CEO Bob Ingram, who is North Carolina resident who knew Broyhill Washington at work: “He wanted to find the best answer to the problem.”
After the 1986 defeat, Broyhill served on North Carolina’s economic development board. Martin later selected him to serve as commerce secretary in his second cabinet, saying he had “impeccable ties to North Carolina industry.”
James Thomas Broyhill, a native of Lenoir, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1950, according to the official congressional biography. His father, JE Broyhill, who started the family furniture dynasty in 1926 as the Lenoir Chair Company, was a prominent Republican himself.
“Jim joined this and made a huge contribution as a member of Congress,” Martin said. “It’s a family tradition that has given the Republican Party a big boost.” Ed Broyhill is now a member of the Republican National Committee.
Recently retired Republican Senator Richard Burr, who was recruited by Broyhill to run for Congress more than 30 years ago, said he would be remembered as a “gentleman and a statesman,” calling his For “mentor and confidant”. “
“I always knew I could trust his advice and counsel because he saw everything in what was best for the country,” Burr said.
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper praised Broyhill for his commitment and service to the state in a tweet Saturday.
The MP died before his son Philip. In addition to Ed Broyhill, other Broyhill survivors include his wife of 72 years, Louise R. Broyhill, and his daughter, Marilyn Broyhill Beach of Winston-Salem.
Funeral arrangements had not been finalized earlier Saturday. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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