WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.480 Welcome to today's deep dive. I'm just so glad 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:05.139 you could join us today because we are taking 00:00:05.139 --> 00:00:07.599 a completely unexpected route. We really are. 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:10.779 It's a bit out of left field. Right. We are looking 00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:13.740 at a document that on its surface might sound 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:16.570 like a total cure for insomnia. It is a Wikipedia 00:00:16.570 --> 00:00:20.190 article and it's titled List of United States 00:00:20.190 --> 00:00:23.149 Senators from North Carolina. I know. I know. 00:00:23.269 --> 00:00:26.070 It sounds incredibly dry. It does. If you were 00:00:26.070 --> 00:00:27.710 to pull this up on your screen right now, you 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:29.929 would see exactly what you'd expect. Just a massive 00:00:29.929 --> 00:00:32.509 scrolling data table of names, dates and political 00:00:32.509 --> 00:00:35.109 parties. Just rows and rows of data. Exactly. 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:37.649 But I promise you, if you stick with us today, 00:00:37.890 --> 00:00:40.789 you're going to see that this seemingly dry spreadsheet 00:00:40.789 --> 00:00:44.750 is actually a massive treasure trove. It is full 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:47.640 of. human drama, utter unpredictability, and 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.259 these really major historical shifts. Okay, let's 00:00:50.259 --> 00:00:52.740 unpack this. We are going to prove that a simple 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:55.399 chronological list of politicians is really a 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:57.740 gripping story about how power actually operates. 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:00.880 It genuinely is a fascinating lens to look through. 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:03.280 To set the stage for you, we really have to go 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.079 all the way back to the very beginning of the 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.379 country. North Carolina ratified the Constitution 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:12.400 on November 21st, 1789. Which was a bit late, 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:13.980 right? Yeah, that was actually quite late in 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.569 the game. The first Congress had already convened 00:01:16.569 --> 00:01:18.870 and they'd begun their work months prior. But 00:01:18.870 --> 00:01:21.010 once they ratified, they didn't waste any time. 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:25.870 Just six days later, on November 27, 1789, the 00:01:25.870 --> 00:01:28.650 state elected its first two senators. That was 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:30.969 Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins. So they 00:01:30.969 --> 00:01:33.790 move fast once they're in. Very fast. So right 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:35.450 out of the gate, we shouldn't look at this list 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:38.390 as just raw data. It is a literal timeline of 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:41.459 a state's evolution. And by extension, it's a 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:44.239 microcosm of the entire nation's evolution. Whether 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.659 you are a massive history buff or just someone 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:48.980 who is insanely curious about how the machinery 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:51.459 of government actually developed, this deep dive 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:53.640 is going to give you some serious aha moments. 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:56.260 Because we tend to project our modern understanding 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.819 of politics backward. You know, we assume things 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:00.640 were always the way they are now. Right, which 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.420 is a huge mistake. Exactly. Let's start with 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:05.480 the early days of the republic, because the way 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.599 politicians treated the job back then is just 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:10.919 wild compared to today. Imagine someone running 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:12.699 for the U .S. Senate today, winning the election, 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:15.099 and then just shrugging and saying, thanks, but 00:02:15.099 --> 00:02:18.919 no thanks. It sounds completely absurd. It does. 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:21.800 Given the modern political machine, it's unthinkable. 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:24.939 But that is exactly what happened. It's one of 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:27.439 the most glaring anomalies right at the top of 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:31.250 the timeline. In 1804... A man named Montfort 00:02:31.250 --> 00:02:34.250 Stokes was elected to the Senate and he simply 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:36.449 refused the position. He just said no. He just 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:38.310 flat out turned it down, which actually left 00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:40.830 the seat completely vacant from March until December 00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:43.389 of 1805. I just have to laugh at the idea of 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:45.550 turning down a U .S. Senate seat today. I mean, 00:02:45.569 --> 00:02:48.090 we're talking about a job that now requires years 00:02:48.090 --> 00:02:51.370 of intense campaigning, national media scrutiny 00:02:51.370 --> 00:02:54.169 and tens of millions of dollars just to secure. 00:02:54.330 --> 00:02:56.719 And Stokes just walked away from it. What's fascinating 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.360 here is what that refusal reveals about the mindset 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:03.060 of the early republic. Today, we view serving 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.360 in the United States Senate as the absolute pinnacle 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.919 of a political career. But back then the federal 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.379 government was still a very new, very untested 00:03:12.379 --> 00:03:14.639 experiment. It wasn't the powerhouse it is now. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.819 Not at all. You have to picture the reality of 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:20.740 early 19th century Washington, D .C. It wasn't 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.159 this gleaming capital of global power. It was 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.860 essentially a swamp. A literal swamp. A literal 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:28.860 swamp. Travel from North Carolina to D .C. was 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:31.819 incredibly arduous. It often took weeks over 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:35.240 muddy, dangerous roads. Furthermore, the real 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.120 day -to -day power laws and decisions that actually 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:40.060 impacted people's lives, that was held at the 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:42.319 state level. So local politics was where the 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.639 real action was. Exactly. The federal government 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.729 just wasn't the center. So for a prominent local 00:03:47.729 --> 00:03:50.110 figure, packing up and moving to a miserable 00:03:50.110 --> 00:03:53.430 swamp to debate federal tariffs wasn't necessarily 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:55.509 an attractive proposition. That makes perfect 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:57.689 sense of the rest of this early list, because 00:03:57.689 --> 00:03:59.430 Stokes wasn't the only one treating the Senate 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:02.009 like a temporary gig or even an inconvenience. 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:04.610 Oh, definitely not. The early 1800s portion of 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:07.789 this table is basically a revolving door of people 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:11.069 quitting. You have David Stone. who was elected 00:04:11.069 --> 00:04:13.930 in 1800 but resigned in 1807 to return to the 00:04:13.930 --> 00:04:16.449 state superior court. Right. Then there is John 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:19.430 Branch. He resigned from the Senate in 1829 to 00:04:19.430 --> 00:04:21.990 become the U .S. Secretary of the Navy. You jump 00:04:21.990 --> 00:04:25.009 forward a bit to Asa Biggs, who resigned in 1858 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.649 to become a U .S. district court judge. But my 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:30.310 absolute favorite entry in this era is Francis 00:04:30.310 --> 00:04:33.350 Locke Jr. Oh, yes. The 1814 appointment. That 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:35.629 one is incredibly telling. In December 1814, 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:38.970 Francis Locke Jr. was elected to finish a vacant 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:41.509 term. And the table notes that he resigned in 00:04:41.509 --> 00:04:44.430 1815 without having qualified. Just incredible. 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:45.850 For anyone who might not be familiar with that 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:47.949 term, qualifying for a seat essentially means 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:50.189 showing up, presenting your credentials, and 00:04:50.189 --> 00:04:52.550 officially taking the oath of office. So Locke 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:54.529 basically got the job and then quit before he 00:04:54.529 --> 00:04:56.089 even officially started his first day of work. 00:04:56.350 --> 00:04:58.490 If we connect this to the bigger picture, I want 00:04:58.490 --> 00:05:01.009 you to really consider how the prestige of federal 00:05:01.009 --> 00:05:03.610 versus state power has completely inverted over 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:07.029 the centuries. In the 1800s, leaving the U .S. 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:09.810 Senate to take a job as a state judge or a district 00:05:09.810 --> 00:05:12.990 judge was seen as a perfectly logical career 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.050 move. A promotion almost. Very much so. It was 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:18.850 often a step up in terms of immediate local influence 00:05:18.850 --> 00:05:21.410 or at least a step toward a much more comfortable, 00:05:21.529 --> 00:05:24.829 practical life closer to home and family. You 00:05:24.829 --> 00:05:27.199 look at that data. today. And it feels completely 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:29.600 backward to our modern understanding of political 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.060 ambition, where local politicians spend their 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:34.259 whole lives trying to climb the ladder to get 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:37.240 to Washington. So we have this early era of personal 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:39.420 ambivalence where people are treating the Senate 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.139 like a temp job. But as we move toward the mid 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:45.000 19th century, that personal choice eventually 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.540 gives way to a total systemic breakdown. Yes, 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:50.800 the tone shifts dramatically. You don't just 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:53.560 see individuals quitting. you see the entire 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:56.800 state legislature failing to function. The first 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.199 major structural failure jumps right off the 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:03.680 page. From March 1853 to December 1854, there 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.600 is a giant gap in the representation. And the 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:08.920 reason listed for this near two -year vacancy 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:11.699 is simply that the state legislature failed to 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:13.720 elect. It's important to remember the mechanics 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.449 of the era. Senators weren't elected by popular 00:06:16.449 --> 00:06:18.910 vote back then. They were chosen by the state 00:06:18.910 --> 00:06:21.810 legislatures. So if a state legislature was deeply 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:24.529 fractured or deadlocked, they simply couldn't 00:06:24.529 --> 00:06:26.730 produce a majority vote to send a senator to 00:06:26.730 --> 00:06:28.709 Washington. They were just stuck. Completely 00:06:28.709 --> 00:06:31.230 stuck. In the 1850s, the nation was buckling 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:33.470 under the extreme partisan tensions leading up 00:06:33.470 --> 00:06:35.790 to the Civil War, particularly regarding the 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:38.310 expansion of slavery and states' rights. That 00:06:38.310 --> 00:06:40.529 gridlock in the North Carolina Statehouse resulting 00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:42.689 in a failure to elect a senator for two years 00:06:42.689 --> 00:06:45.459 was a direct reflection of the of a rapidly polarizing 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:47.680 country. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:06:47.939 --> 00:06:51.139 That bureaucratic gridlock was just the tremor 00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.560 before the earthquake. When you look at the entries 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:57.079 surrounding 1861, the data transitions from political 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.839 stalemates to literal warfare. It does. It's 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:03.199 jarring to read. We see the entry for Senator 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.250 Thomas Bragg. He was elected in the late 1850s 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:09.569 and then reelected in 1861. But his term abruptly 00:07:09.569 --> 00:07:13.670 ends in March of 1861. He resigned and was subsequently 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:15.790 expelled by the Senate for his support of the 00:07:15.790 --> 00:07:18.610 Confederacy. The historical reality sets in right 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:21.139 there on the page. Exactly. We're looking at 00:07:21.139 --> 00:07:23.680 a stark, recorded action taken by the U .S. Senate 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.079 during the onset of the Civil War. There's no 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:28.279 editorializing in the table, just the historical 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:31.399 facts. A fractured government taking formal action 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:33.300 against its own members. And the consequence 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:35.680 of that fracture creates the most visually jarring 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.240 anomaly in the entire Wikipedia table. There 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.740 is a massive vacancy listed as the Civil War 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:43.939 and Reconstruction era. From March 11, 1861 all 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:47.019 the way to July 14, 1868, North Carolina had 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:48.860 absolutely zero representation in the United 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:51.089 States Senate. That is over seven years of just 00:07:51.089 --> 00:07:53.290 nothing, a complete blank space on the timeline. 00:07:53.509 --> 00:07:56.310 What's fascinating here is how a simple blank 00:07:56.310 --> 00:07:59.250 space on a spreadsheet so perfectly represents 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:02.889 a shattered nation. It's not just missing data 00:08:02.889 --> 00:08:05.990 or a clerical error. It is the visual representation 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:08.790 of a state that had seceded, fought a catastrophic 00:08:08.790 --> 00:08:12.250 war, and then had to undergo a lengthy and complex 00:08:12.250 --> 00:08:14.870 reconstruction process before it was legally 00:08:14.870 --> 00:08:17.129 readmitted to the national political apparatus. 00:08:17.449 --> 00:08:20.069 It's heavy. It really is. We usually learn about 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:22.069 the Civil War through the lens of major battles 00:08:22.069 --> 00:08:24.689 or presidential speeches. But seeing it represented 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:27.509 as a giant empty void on a bureaucratic spreadsheet 00:08:27.509 --> 00:08:30.350 is a stark reminder of how completely the nation 00:08:30.350 --> 00:08:33.789 broke. The institutional machinery simply ceased 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:36.309 to exist for millions of people. It's a completely 00:08:36.309 --> 00:08:38.529 different way to visualize that era of history. 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:41.559 But the drama in this table doesn't stop after 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:43.940 the Civil War and Reconstruction. As we track 00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:46.059 into the late 19th and then the 20th century, 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.539 we enter what looks like an era of wild unpredictability. 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.299 Yes, the data gets very chaotic again. For instance, 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.639 you scroll through decades of Democrats and Republicans, 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:57.820 the typical two -party back and forth we're all 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:00.200 familiar with. And then suddenly, right at the 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:02.759 end of the 19th century, you hit Marion Butler. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.379 From 1895 to 1901, North Carolina was represented 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:10.059 by Butler, whose party affiliation is listed 00:09:10.059 --> 00:09:13.820 squarely as populist. It completely breaks up 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:16.200 the visual sea of red and blue in the table. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:19.419 That is a great detail to pull out. The Populist 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:22.039 Party or the People's Party was a major left 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:24.360 wing agrarian political movement in the late 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.299 19th century. It was largely driven by farmers 00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:29.220 who felt completely ignored by the mainstream 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:31.539 banking and political establishments of both 00:09:31.539 --> 00:09:33.360 the Democrats and the Republicans. They just 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.820 felt left behind by the system. Exactly. Seeing 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:38.779 Butler's name pop up as a solitary populist senator 00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.820 is a tiny, perfect window into a very specific 00:09:41.820 --> 00:09:44.519 moment of profound economic archival and rural 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.659 rebellion in the United States. It was a moment 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:48.919 when the two party duopoly briefly cracked under 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:51.059 the pressure of working class frustration. That 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:53.639 context makes that single row in the spreadsheet 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.120 so much more meaningful. But as we move into 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.759 the mid 20th century, the anomalies turn from 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.220 political party shifts to something a lot more 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:05.299 grim. If you look closely at the class two Senate 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:07.500 seat during this era, there is a statistical 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.240 cluster of tragedy that almost defies belief. 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:12.779 It really is unbelievable. And just to clarify 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:15.019 for everyone listening, the U .S. Senate is divided 00:10:15.019 --> 00:10:17.620 into three classes so that only about a third 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:19.600 of the Senate is up for election every two years. 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:22.039 It's a built -in stability measure designed by 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.139 the founders so the entire chamber can't be replaced 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:26.899 all at once. North Carolina holds a Class 2 seat 00:10:26.899 --> 00:10:28.799 and a Class 3 seat. Right. And it's that Class 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.659 2 seat that experiences this incredible run of 00:10:31.659 --> 00:10:35.139 instability. Between 1930 and 1958, an unbelievable 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:37.480 number of senators died while holding that specific 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:39.940 office. You have Lee S. Hoverman, who died in 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:43.659 1930. Josiah Bailey died in 1946. J. Melville 00:10:43.659 --> 00:10:46.799 Broughton died in 1949. Will Smith died in 1953. 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:50.610 And W. Kerr Scott died in 1950. That is an astonishing 00:10:50.610 --> 00:10:53.250 cluster of mortality. Five sitting U .S. senators 00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:56.289 dying in office within a 28 -year span, mostly 00:10:56.289 --> 00:10:59.230 concentrated in the 1940s and 50s. And if we 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:01.870 connect this to the bigger picture, it caused 00:11:01.870 --> 00:11:04.889 absolute political chaos for the state's representation. 00:11:06.009 --> 00:11:08.230 Seniority is the currency of power in the U .S. 00:11:08.269 --> 00:11:10.830 Senate. The longer you serve, the better committee 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:12.889 assignments you get, and the more influence you 00:11:12.889 --> 00:11:15.289 have to steer federal resources back to your 00:11:15.289 --> 00:11:17.919 home state. So they were constantly resetting 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.580 to the bottom of the ladder. Precisely. Because 00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:23.200 of all these sudden deaths, North Carolina was 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:25.899 constantly losing its seniority. Furthermore, 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:28.820 it created a massive headache back home because 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:30.919 the state's governor had to keep stepping in 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.120 to appoint short -term replacements to fill the 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.480 seat until a special election could be held. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:38.240 I'm trying to imagine the internal party chaos 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.100 of that. If the governor keeps having to handpick 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:44.200 replacements, did any of those appointees actually 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:46.620 manage to hold onto the seat when the special 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:49.139 elections finally rolled around? That is where 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:51.259 the data reveals a really intriguing pattern. 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:54.580 Those appointed senators almost never held on 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.840 to the job. Yes, you see a constant string of 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.039 short -term appointees, and then the special 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:02.480 election hits, and the appointed senator frequently 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.460 loses the nomination to finish the term. Take 00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:08.559 William B. Umstead. He was appointed in December 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:12.419 1946 to continue Josiah Bailey's term after Bailey 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:15.559 passed away. But by 1948, when it came time for 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.080 the voters to weigh in, Umstead lost the election 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.039 to actually finish that term. So the voters just 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.779 rejected him. They did. And the exact same scenario 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:26.919 played out with Alton Lennon. He was appointed 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:30.559 in July 1953 after Willis Smith died, but lost 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.480 the nomination to finish the term in 1954. So 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.299 the governor's blessing essentially meant nothing 00:12:35.299 --> 00:12:38.009 to the voters. Exactly. This raises an important 00:12:38.009 --> 00:12:40.309 question about the nature of democratic legitimacy. 00:12:40.529 --> 00:12:42.789 It showed a clear disconnect between the political 00:12:42.789 --> 00:12:44.990 establishment, the governors making the appointments 00:12:44.990 --> 00:12:47.330 and the voting public who consistently rejected 00:12:47.330 --> 00:12:50.230 those handpicked successors. It is a perfect 00:12:50.230 --> 00:12:52.629 example of how much instability, loss of influence 00:12:52.629 --> 00:12:55.049 and raw political friction is hiding behind these 00:12:55.049 --> 00:12:57.049 neat little rows and columns of names and dates. 00:12:57.529 --> 00:13:00.830 It really is. But eventually that mid -century 00:13:00.830 --> 00:13:03.779 turbulence calms down. We see a massive shift 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:06.320 in the late 20th century, specifically beginning 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.500 in the 1970s, where the idea of the lifelong 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:12.840 career politician truly solidifies in the data. 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.639 This is most obvious when Jesse Helms, a Republican, 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:20.360 takes office in 1973. Yes. Looking at the data 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.240 neutrally, the sheer length of Helms' tenure 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.019 is staggering compared to the rapid turnover 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:28.519 and deaths we just discussed. He held that seat 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:32.350 from 1973 all the way until 2003. 30 years. That 00:13:32.350 --> 00:13:34.690 makes him North Carolina's longest serving senator. 00:13:34.850 --> 00:13:37.250 30 straight years in the chamber. Which perfectly 00:13:37.250 --> 00:13:40.009 mirrors a broader national trend. Across the 00:13:40.009 --> 00:13:42.370 country during this era, we see senators building 00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:46.149 these massive multi -decade careers. A 30 -year 00:13:46.149 --> 00:13:48.889 uninterrupted run is a monumental shift from 00:13:48.889 --> 00:13:50.629 those early days we talked about, where guys 00:13:50.629 --> 00:13:52.669 like David Stone were quitting after a few years 00:13:52.669 --> 00:13:54.590 to go be local judges. It's a completely different 00:13:54.590 --> 00:13:57.230 world. It completely redefines the modern expectation 00:13:57.230 --> 00:13:59.269 of what a Senate career looks like. You go to 00:13:59.269 --> 00:14:01.639 Washington and you stay there. It absolutely 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:04.240 does. The accumulation of seniority became the 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.720 ultimate goal. And as we scan down the rest of 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:09.120 the modern era, you start seeing names and political 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.159 maneuvers that will probably be very recognizable. 00:14:11.500 --> 00:14:14.000 You have John Edwards, who was elected in 1998. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.539 And as we know from recent political history, 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:19.159 he stepped away from that Senate seat in 2005 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:21.860 to mount a presidential run, treating the Senate 00:14:21.860 --> 00:14:24.340 as a springboard to the executive branch. You 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:26.720 also see the barrier breaking presence of notable 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.879 female senators with Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan. 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.299 representing different parties in the 2000s. 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:35.539 And that brings us right up to the current snapshot 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:38.620 of North Carolina's representation. Right now, 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.000 the state is represented by a Republican delegation, 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:44.700 Tom Tillis, who was first elected in 2014, and 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:47.460 Ted Budd, who was elected in 2022. And the beauty 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:49.159 of this timeline is that it doesn't just show 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:51.100 us the past. It points us toward the future. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:53.820 The data shows us exactly when the next political 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:56.139 battles are going to be waged. Tillis' class 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:58.679 two seat will be determined in the upcoming 2026 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.500 election, and Budd's class three seat is up for 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:04.230 grabs in 2028. It is also worth pointing out 00:15:04.230 --> 00:15:06.730 the sheer scale of the modern political apparatus 00:15:06.730 --> 00:15:09.889 we are looking at. A senator doesn't operate 00:15:09.889 --> 00:15:13.529 in a vacuum anymore. Today, North Carolina have 00:15:13.529 --> 00:15:16.509 those two senators, but they also have 13 representatives 00:15:16.509 --> 00:15:18.669 in the House, bringing their total congressional 00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:21.690 delegation to 16 people. That is an excellent 00:15:21.690 --> 00:15:24.970 point of comparison. When you put that massive 00:15:24.970 --> 00:15:28.649 16 person federal delegation with all their staffs 00:15:28.649 --> 00:15:30.789 and committees and multimillion dollar budgets. 00:15:31.610 --> 00:15:34.049 Next to the very first entry on this list, just 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:36.710 Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins riding carriages 00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:40.769 up from North Carolina back in 1789. You really 00:15:40.769 --> 00:15:43.450 see how profoundly the state, the population 00:15:43.450 --> 00:15:45.710 and the sheer scope of the federal government 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:47.750 have expanded over two and a half centuries. 00:15:48.029 --> 00:15:49.669 OK, let's bring it all together. So what does 00:15:49.669 --> 00:15:52.190 this all mean? It means that a simple Wikipedia 00:15:52.190 --> 00:15:55.190 list of politicians is never just a list. It 00:15:55.190 --> 00:15:57.970 is a mirror. It reflects a nation's history with 00:15:57.970 --> 00:16:00.009 absolute clarity if you know how to read it. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:02.399 Through these names and dates, we watched the 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.460 growing pains of a new republic where no one 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.759 was quite sure if the federal government actually 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.710 mattered. We saw the catastrophic break of a 00:16:09.710 --> 00:16:12.870 civil war represented by a chilling seven -year 00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.710 void of representation. We saw the working class 00:16:15.710 --> 00:16:18.649 outrage of a lone populist. We saw how sudden 00:16:18.649 --> 00:16:22.049 deaths can cause decades of partisan chaos. And 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:24.669 we saw the sweeping modern realignment that led 00:16:24.669 --> 00:16:27.889 to 30 -year lifelong political tenures. It's 00:16:27.889 --> 00:16:30.110 incredible. And I really hope that for you listening, 00:16:30.230 --> 00:16:33.409 the next time you are faced with a dry data table, 00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:35.850 a spreadsheet, or a list of historical dates, 00:16:35.909 --> 00:16:37.929 whether it's for your local town council or the 00:16:37.929 --> 00:16:40.429 federal government, you remember to look for 00:16:40.429 --> 00:16:43.509 the blank spaces. Look for the statistical anomalies. 00:16:43.509 --> 00:16:45.929 Check the footnotes. Because as we just saw with 00:16:45.929 --> 00:16:48.409 politicians refusing office or state legislatures 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:50.850 utterly failing to function or a tragic cluster 00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:53.250 of early deaths, that is where the real human 00:16:53.250 --> 00:16:56.230 stories hide. Absolutely. And to wrap up our 00:16:56.230 --> 00:16:58.250 deep dive today, I want to leave you with a final 00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:00.269 thought to mull over, building on everything 00:17:00.269 --> 00:17:02.210 we've traced through this timeline. Let's hear 00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:04.990 it. Considering that early on, men like Monfort 00:17:04.990 --> 00:17:08.029 Stokes once outright refused a U .S. Senate seat, 00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:10.930 and early politicians frequently quit to take 00:17:10.930 --> 00:17:14.109 local state judge jobs, how fundamentally different 00:17:14.109 --> 00:17:16.470 would our modern political landscape be if the 00:17:16.470 --> 00:17:18.970 United States Senate was still viewed as a temporary, 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:22.309 burdensome chore rather than a lifelong, lucrative 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:25.009 career goal? Wow. That is quite the question 00:17:25.009 --> 00:17:26.950 to leave us on. Thank you for joining us on this 00:17:26.950 --> 00:17:28.490 deep dive, and we'll catch you next time.