By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

It was the same old tune Tuesday night for Democrat State Senator R.C. Soles Jr. – “Happy Days are Here Again.” Soles fended off Republican challenger Bill Fairley by 1,845 votes in the battle in the counties of Columbus, Brunswick and Pender.

Soles won with 27,223 votes to Fairley’s 25,378. The incumbent won by 2,111 votes in Columbus County, gained another 1,163 in Pender County to lead by 3,274 votes before adding the Brunswick County totals. Fairley won by 2,438 in Brunswick County, but he ran out of places to get votes.

“I’m thankful to win again,” Soles said of his 20th straight election victory. “If I keep running I suspect the odds are going to get me one day.
“It was a long, hard campaign -- not the worst I’ve ever had – with a formidable opponent. I have a great deal of respect for Bill Fairley. He’s a good citizen. I’m sorry he chose to run against me, and I hope we’re still friends,’’ Soles said Wednesday.

“I was never overly confident, but I felt I was going to win from Day One, and every result I saw on television or was called in to me I was always ahead. I lost some precincts, but not by much.

“It didn’t snowball in Brunswick County like some people had predicted, and I’m certainly glad for that,” Soles added.

Fairly said, “Somebody’s going to have to lose. I knew that, and I’m sorry it was me. I’ll get over it. I truly enjoy being retired. Life has been good to me.”

“I would have loved to have had some money. I got really tired of seeing R.C.’s 10 ads a day on television, because I wasn’t able to respond,” Fairley pointed out.

“I liked my campaign. It was well run, and I met many, many nice people in Columbus County. When you can’t spend money like rain water, you do it different. We held a lot of small receptions and were able to talk to people for more than a 30-second sound bite, and we made some good points.”

Fairley said he was grateful for the “wonderful, wonderful support I got” in Columbus County, and he was a “little disappointed at Brunswick’s results” and “very disappointed” in Pender’s totals.”

“I know one thing, R.C. knows how to get people to the polls,” Fairley declared.

Soles said he wanted to continue to work for the entire district, and noted Columbus’ shortcomings in industry. “Our lack of industry has gotten a bad rap. You give me the Atlantic Ocean in Columbus County and watch what happens.”

Soles said Brunswick, Pender and other coastline counties have worked hard, but the ocean was the key. “Our county had tobacco, textiles and some furniture, and the trade laws and dealings in Washington killed it.

“Some things are moving in the right direction, particularly Southeastern Community College. They’ve done an outstanding job of retraining people and by maintaining their programs, good things are going to happen for this county,” Soles added.

The 71-year-old Soles lost seven precincts in Columbus County – East Lees, North Lees, West Lees, North Whiteville, South Whiteville, West Whiteville and Williams II. However, Fairley only had a lead of 218 votes in the seven precincts and this was easily obliterated when the absentee balloting was announced.

Soles got 1,935 in absentee voting, with Fairley tallying 1,296. Other strong showings for Soles were in his home precinct of South Williams (512 to 255), Chadbourn (436 to 259), Evergreen (422 to 206) and Welches Creek (258 to 93).

The unofficial totals show Columbus gave Soles 7,779 votes and Fairley 5,668. Pender’s totals were Soles 5,821 and Fairley 4,658. Brunswick’s figures were 15,052 for Fairley and 13,614 for Soles.