Former North Carolina Rep. Nick Galifianakis, a three-term Democrat who lost an ugly 1972 Senate race to ultraconservative segregationist Jesse Helms, died Monday at the age of 94. While Galifianakis, as The News & Observer’s Rob Christensen writes in his obituary, has largely been overshadowed by two of his nephews, comedian Zach Galifianakis and cartoonist Nick Galifianakis, that fateful campaign proved to be pivotal in the Tar Heel State’s drift to the Republican Party as well as in Helms’ rise in national politics.
Galifianakis, who grew up in a Greek-speaking household, served in the Marines and worked as a lawyer and instructor at Duke University before he began his political career in 1960. That year, recounts Christensen, 36 of his Duke colleagues chipped in 50 cents each to pay the $18 filing fee for his successful campaign for the state House. Galifianakis quickly became an ally of liberal Gov. Terry Sanford, and he showed he knew how to draw attention: Galifianakis walked 19 miles in 1963 to urge the federal government to finish Interstate 85, and he pretended to have a sword fight in the legislature as he pushed a bill to repeal capital punishment for dueling.
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