From 1964 to 1966, Hunt was a
Ford Foundation economic advisor in
Nepal. After working on several state and national campaigns for Democratic candidates and attending several Democratic conventions as a delegate, in addition to his work with the North Carolina Young Democratic Clubs, in
1972 he ran successfully for
lieutenant governor. He was sworn in on January 5, 1973. With the election of
James Holshouser as governor in
1972—the first
Republican to win the office in decades—the
Democratic majority in the General Assembly was compelled to raise the stature of the office of the lieutenant governor. It raised the job's salary from $5,000 to $30,000 per year, increased the office operating budget, and expanded its staff from two to five. Hunt was first sworn in as
Governor of North Carolina on January 8, 1977. He was the only Governor of North Carolina to have been elected to four terms. He was first
elected governor in 1976 over Republican
David Flaherty and was
re-elected in 1980, defeating
I. Beverly Lake. Hunt supported a constitutional change during his first term that allowed him to be the first North Carolina governor to run for a second consecutive term. In 1981, Hunt chaired the
Hunt Commission, named after himself, which established
superdelegates in the
Democratic National Convention. In 1984, he lost a bitterly contested
race for the U.S. Senate seat held by
Jesse Helms, and left elective politics for eight years. He returned in 1992 and
defeated Republican lieutenant governor and
Hardee's executive
Jim Gardner to win the governorship. Hunt was
re-elected by a large margin over future U.S. Congressman
Robin Hayes in 1996. He left office in January 2001, and was replaced by Attorney General
Mike Easley.
Actions and political views In the 1970s, Governor Hunt was a supporter of the
Equal Rights Amendment and, with his wife
Carolyn, he urged its approval by the
state legislature (which failed to ratify it by two votes) and appointed
Betty Ray McCain as his chief lobbyist for the amendment. Hunt was an early proponent of teaching standards and early childhood education, gaining national recognition for the
Smart Start program for
pre-kindergarteners. In his book,
First in America: An Education Governor Challenges North Carolina, Hunt said that under testing and accountability measures he put into place test scores went up. He said 56% of students were proficient in 1994 compared with 70% in the year 2000. He said without testing students slip through the cracks and face a "limited future" (p. 55). In
2000 he was mentioned as a possible Democratic nominee for
Vice President of the United States or
Education Secretary for
Al Gore had Gore been successful in the 2000 presidential race.
2004 Democratic nominee Sen.
John Kerry was likewise considering Hunt for
Secretary of Education had he won, and he was considered a candidate to be
Barack Obama's Secretary of Education. Hunt served as chair of the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, which created the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and served on the
Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education. As governor, Hunt was involved in a variety of efforts to promote technology and technology-based economic development, including the establishment of the
North Carolina Biotechnology Center,
Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University, and the
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Hunt was key actor in the trial of the
Wilmington Ten. By the late 1970s, their case had gained international attention and was viewed as an embarrassment to the U.S. and North Carolina in particular.
CBS had broadcast a
60 Minutes piece about the case that suggested that the evidence against the ten had been fabricated. In January 1978, following the higher courts' refusal to dismiss these charges, Hunt decided to reduce their sentencing of 20–25 years to 13–17 years rather than pardon and free them. Many black North Carolinian politicians at the time disapproved of Hunt's decision but the general mentality at the time was that "right now blacks have nowhere else to turn" so there was no organized opposition movement.
Howard Nathaniel Lee, however, refused to resign from his appointed role as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, as a form of protest against Hunt. During his tenure, Hunt would appoint both the first African American to the North Carolina Supreme Court,
Henry Frye, and the first Black Cabinet member, former Secretary of Natural Resources and Community Development
Howard Lee. Hunt supported the death penalty and rarely granted clemency to death-row inmates. During his terms in office Hunt oversaw
13 executions (two during his first period in office, 11 during his second). Notable executions included the first execution in North Carolina after the
US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976 (
James W. Hutchins) and the first nationwide execution of a woman in 22 years (
Velma Barfield). Hunt was a proponent of North Carolina's tobacco industry, even after the negative health effects of tobacco use became clear. When Ronald Reagan Administration
U.S. Surgeon General Dr.
C. Everett Koop accused the
tobacco industry of directing advertising at children and threatening human lives, Hunt called for his
impeachment. ==Retirement==