The top candidates in North Carolina’s pivotal U.S. Senate race said that the police should not be defunded, a rallying cry for some protesters after another unarmed black man was killed by police officers.

In public comments and response to questions from McClatchy, Sen. Thom Tillis, the Republican incumbent, and Democratic nominee Cal Cunningham said they are in favor of some reforms, but not defunding.

Proponents of defunding the police want some money budgeted for law enforcement to be re-allocated to other public safety or health programs. Others call for stronger actions, such as disbanding police departments or reconfiguring them after the May 25th death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Defunding or disbanding law enforcement is irresponsible, would make our communities less safe, and is void of commonsense. Anyone who is afraid to say that is simply unfit to lead,” Tillis tweeted Wednesday.

Cunningham said in a statement to McClatchy: “Twenty-first century policing reform will require increased investment in law enforcement, not defunding it.”

Three Minneapolis police officers were on top of Floyd, who was in handcuffs on the ground, including one officer whose knee was pressed on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe.

The incident was videotaped by witnesses. All four officers on the scene were fired and have been charged, including a second-degree murder charge against the lead officer.

“This murder was horrific and it was disgraceful,” Tillis said in a June 2 video posted to YouTube.. “George Floyd and his loved ones deserve justice and the officers involved in the killing must be held fully accountable by our legal system.”

Cunningham marched with protesters in Raleigh on June 8.

“Out of love of country comes my abiding faith that we can change — and from the countless Americans raising their voices across the country comes my hope that we can build our more perfect union. I stand with you. Black lives matter,” he posted on Twitter along with a photo.

Tillis and Cunningham are in a statistical tie according to recent polls. The North Carolina race could determine control of the Senate in 2021. Libertarian candidate Shannon Bray and Constitution candidate Kevin Hayes are also on the November ballot.

Tillis and Cunningham are both white. Just 10 African Americans have served in the U.S. Senate, including two in the Reconstruction Era and three who were appointed. None of them are from North Carolina.

Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of those appointed, was later elected. Along with Scott, Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California are the only current African American senators.

Policy reforms

U.S. House Democrats introduced the Justice in Policing Act this week. It would, among other things, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants at the federal level, mandate use of dashboard and body cameras, establish public police misconduct database and reform qualified immunity for police officers.

“America has a serious and deadly problem when it comes to the discriminatory and excessive policing of communities of color — and that policing exists within a system that time and again refuses to hold police accountable for their brutality,” Booker said.

All three North Carolina Democrats — Reps. GK Butterfield, David Price and Alma Adams — in the U.S. House are co-sponsors of the legislation. Butterfield and Adams are black.

Tillis, 59, does not support the House bill, saying it is “too restrictive on law enforcement and will hinder their ability to keep communities safe.”

Senate Republicans, led by Scott, are working on their own package of reforms. Scott is the lone black Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Among the reforms Tillis wants to see included are expanding the use of body cameras, promoting deescalation training and providing the public with more information about incidents involving police use of force that cause serious injury, according to Tillis’ campaign.

He is the co-sponsor of a bill by Scott to require state tracking and reporting of officer-related shootings. The legislation is named after Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was shot in the back while running away from a white officer in South Carolina in 2015.

“Senator Tillis will be pushing for consensus reforms that improve transparency, accountability and communication, which are essential to building trust between communities and law enforcement,” campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo told McClatchy.

Cunningham, 46, wants to create a new policing grant program through the Department of Justice, but condition those grants on the adoption of local policies that “must counsel deescalation, prohibit chokeholds, limit no-knock warrants, and specifically address the use of deadly force, while making sure law enforcement preserves its right to proportional self-defense.”

Additionally, the funding would be contingent on addressing racial and religious profiling, adding more body and dashboard cameras and the reporting of use-of-force incidents. Many of those reform priorities, including limiting qualified immunity for police officers, are included in the House bill.

He said he wants this bill to go through the process of committee hearings, expert witness testimony and amendments. One of Floyd’s brothers testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee.

“Law enforcement must be guardians in our communities, not warriors against our own people,” he said.

Tillis previously pushed separate legislation that would punish local officials for not complying with immigration agents and offer incentives for them to cooperate by reimbursing them for certain costs. Cunningham opposed the efforts.

Reactions to protests

On June 2, Tillis released a video statement condemning instances of rioting and looting that had, in some cases, overtaken the peaceful protests demanding justice for Floyd. Tillis said “every elected official has an obligation to condemn the violence and call for restoration of law and order.”

In the video, Tillis said Americans should not have to live in fear and that they deserve to live in safe communities.

“This is not the first tragic video we’ve seen and it’s symbolic of a bigger problem we have in our country: Many law-abiding Americans feel fear and distrust when they see a police officer simply because of the color of their skin,” Tillis said.

Cunningham released a video on May 30, saying that “when we watch white police officers with their knees on the neck of a black man, that is all too familiar to too many black Americans.”

In a series of tweets the next day, Cunningham said the protests should not devolve into lawlessness.

“The protests in North Carolina and across the country are an important space for us to communicate those feelings and our desire for change — protests deeply rooted in the First Amendment to the Constitution,” Cunningham tweeted in a thread on June 1.

“But if there can be any hope for our future, they must happen without violence, destruction or further lives lost. Let’s work together to direct our sense of despair toward constructive change: accountability for public officials, policy reforms, and action at the ballot box.”

Addressing racism

Some members of the Trump administration have said they do not believe that systemic racism exists in current-day America or within police forces.

But Tillis, a Trump supporter who has been endorsed by the president, said more needs to be done at all levels of government to make change.

“Senator Tillis has always believed in the need to address institutional and systemic racism, and he has a bipartisan record of results,” Romeo said, pointing to Tillis’ work in North Carolina on payment to victims of the state’s eugenics or forced sterilization program and on criminal justice reform.

Tillis was NC Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2014 when he won his first term in the U.S. Senate.

North Carolina in 2014 became the first state to compensate victims, establishing a $10 million fund for the nearly 7,600 victims between 1929 and 1974. Many of the were African-American, poor and/or disabled. Tillis pushed the legislation along with Democrat Rep. Larry Womble of Winston-Salem.

In 2011, state lawmakers passed the Justice Reinvestment Act, which required all offenders to be supervised after prison, made sentences longer for breaking and entering and increased funding for drug treatment programs, according to The Associated Press. The goal was to save money on corrections and a 2014 study by proponents of the law showed it had.

Tillis was a proponent of the 2018 First Step Act, federal legislation aimed at fairness in sentencing and better helping some offenders prepare to reenter society.

Cunningham, who served as vice chairman of N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper’s crime commission from 2017-19, said he is drawing from that experience and his time as a prosecutor and military service. Cunningham also pointed to the recommendations from President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing as inspiration.

He said the increased time and money that law enforcement spends on substance abuse and mental health issues “have added pressure on law enforcement and highlight the needs to also invest in our health system and social services.” He said barriers have put black Americans at a higher risk for COVID-19.

Cunningham said he supports national efforts to close health care gaps, give minority-owned business access to capital and eliminate housing discrimination.

“We will never address the race-based, systemic barriers to health care, equal housing and education without investing in underserved communities,” Cunningham said.

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