Daniel T. Blue, Jr.
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Daniel T. Blue, Jr. was a Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives (1981-2002) and is set to return to that body in the coming months [1]. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1991 until 1994, when the Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans. Blue was the first African American to hold the post of Speaker in North Carolina.
Blue graduated from North Carolina Central University and the Duke University law school. He established a successful law practice in Raleigh, North Carolina while becoming more and more involved in the Democratic Party.
He sought unsuccessfully to regain his position as Speaker when the Democrats got back the majority in 1999, by forming a coalition of Democrats and Republicans that fell two votes shy of a majority. Blue remained in the House until he ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2002, in which he came in second place behind nominee Erskine Bowles and ahead of Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall.[2]
Blue, who returned to the practice of law, was selected by his local Democratic Party to return to what is essentially his former seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives, after his successor, Bernard Allen, died while running unopposed in the November 2006 election. Democrats also voted to allow Allen's votes in the election to go toward Blue. [3]
Governor Mike Easley, obligated to accept the nomination of the party, appointed Blue to the legislature on November 2, 2006. [4] He will serve the remaining months of Allen's term, in case the legislature is called into special session, and he will take what was Allen's seat in the next legislature, which will convene in January 2007. Some speculate that Blue will also attempt to run for Speaker again. [5]
