Gay Senate
Hopeful Jim Neal Loses Primary

Gay businessman Jim Neal lost his bid Tuesday for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from North Carolina. He received only 19% of the primary vote, while Kay Hagan, currently a state senator, had 61%, with 53% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press.

Hagan is set to face Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole in the general election in November. Dole, completing her first term as a U.S. senator, had 90% of the Republican primary vote with 55% of precincts reporting Tuesday night. She had one challenger, Pete Di Lauro.

There were three other candidates in the Democratic primary field, all of them running behind Hagan and Neal in the vote count. Hagan urged Neal's supporters to join her campaign, while Neal did not immediately return an AP reporter's call for comment Tuesday night. Neal had been the first Democrat to announce his Senate bid, but Hagan joined the race soon afterward and raised the most money of any candidate, $1.5 million. Neal raised only $377,000, a third of that being money he lent his campaign, and could not afford to buy television advertising. (The Advocate)