Editorial: Hamby showed class

Diane Hamby ended her campaign for North Carolina's 5th Congressional District seat on Friday the same way she ran her campaign the past few months.

With true class, she bowed out of the Democratic race 10 days after voters narrowly handed the Democratic nomination to her opponent, Roy Carter.

Trailing by less than 1 percent of the vote - or 475 votes, Hamby was legally entitled to a recount of the tens of thousands of ballots cast in 12 counties in the May 6 primary. She decided against that, acknowledging that statistically she had very little chance of emerging as the winner.

The graceful exit doesn't surprise us. Hamby ran a clean campaign, focusing squarely on the issues and the performance of Rep. Virginia Foxx while refusing to sling mud at her Democratic opponent. A former Iredell County commissioner, Hamby would have been a formidable foe for the Republican incumbent. She can be proud of the race she ran from beginning to end.