Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt has died. The Wilson County native served the state for four terms as a Democrat, expanding the role of the governor and pushing for major education initiatives. Hunt was 88 years old.
Hunt's family members, including his daughter, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, announced his passing Thursday afternoon. They said funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days. "He devoted his life to serving the people of North Carolina, guided by a belief that public service should expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and always put people first," Rachel Hunt said in a news release.
Former Gov. Roy Cooper called Hunt "the greatest governor in North Carolina history," and current Gov. Josh Stein said he "can think of no one who shaped North Carolina’s recent successes as much as Gov. Jim Hunt." U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Hunt's "commitment to public education and economic development made a profound impact on our state that continues to this day."
Hunt grew up on a dairy farm in the tiny Rock Ridge community outside Wilson, and biographer and longtime aide Gary Pearce says that experience got him interested in politics at an early age.
"One of Jim Hunt's earliest memories as a young boy is the highway paving truck coming and paving the dirt road in front of his family's farm," Pearce said. "He always told the story that that made him aware that if you go into politics, you can change things for people's lives."
After serving as student body president at what's now N.C. State University, Hunt became an attorney and made his first run for office in 1972, getting elected lieutenant governor with help from former Gov. Terry Sanford.
His win came the same year North Carolina elected a Republican governor, and Pearce says that made him the highest-ranking Democratic Party leader in the state.
"That was really remarkable, when you think about it," he said. "Somebody who'd never run for any office gets elected lieutenant governor at age of 35 and then governor of North Carolina at age of 39."
Hunt's first term as governor began in 1977. His time in the office would have been short, but he pushed for a constitutional amendment that allowed governors to serve more than one term. He won a second term in 1980.
Hunt also made the leadership of state government more diverse, appointing the state's first Black Supreme Court justice, Henry Frye, and the first Black Cabinet member, Secretary of Natural Resources and Community Development Howard Lee.
"One of the big accomplishments was working for fairness and equality," Hunt said during a 2008 interview with UNC-TV, now PBS North Carolina.
As he wrapped up his second term in 1984, Hunt helped allocate part of the Dorothea Dix mental hospital property in Raleigh to N.C. State for what's now its Centennial Campus, an innovative public-private partnership model. He rebuffed efforts from city leaders to build housing developments on the site. The library there is named after him.
Hunt also launched a campaign for U.S. Senate that year against Republican incumbent Jesse Helms. It was one of the most expensive races in the country at the time.
"Hunt found Helms so reprehensible, and he thought so unrepresentative of what he believed North Carolina should stand for, that he decided to make that race," Pearce said.
Helms spent millions on attack ads to paint the popular governor as inconsistent on key issues, using the line "Where do you stand, Jim?"
Hunt ultimately lost the race, and Helms continued to serve in the Senate until 2003.
Hunt and his team later said they weren't prepared for the style of negative politics that later became commonplace.
"We were naïve," he said in 2008. "We didn't fight back soon enough, and we didn't fight back effectively enough."
After the 1984 loss, Hunt went back to his law practice, but he decided to run for governor again in 1992. Pearce says Hunt felt like he had more to accomplish in the role.
"Having eight years' experience, as well as eight years of experience out of office in private life, he thought he'd be an even better governor the third and fourth time, and he was," Pearce said.
During the '90s, Hunt launched the state's Smart Start prekindergarten program. He successfully lobbied for a constitutional amendment that gave the governor veto power. And he worked to raise teacher pay, an accomplishment he touted in a 2013 interview with WUNC.
"I'm awfully proud of what we did to raise teacher pay to the national average in North Carolina," he said. "A lot of people thought it couldn't be done. I knew it could be done."
Hunt remained active in politics after leaving office in 2000. He founded the Hunt Institute, an education policy nonprofit, and helped campaign for Democrats across the state.
Pearce says his willingness to engage with North Carolinians of all political stripes made him one of the state's most effective leaders.
"What I learned from him is that it's possible in politics to both work for big goals and big things, but to also be a good person, be decent to people and respectful to people even when you're opposed. The person that you're fighting on something today may be your ally tomorrow."
Hunt's legacy continues through his daughter Rachel, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2024 – a half-century after he held the same position.
