Politics

11 Hopefuls Vie For Senate Seat

None — Eleven people in North Carolina are running for one U.S. Senate seat.

Democrats

• Cal Cunningham, a former state senator and Army lawyer • Susan Harris, a small business owner • Ken Lewis, a business lawyer • Elaine Marshall, the current Secretary of State • Marcus Williams, a lawyer • Ann Worthy, a teacher

Libertarian

• Michael Beitler, a college professor

Republicans

• Eddie Burks, a marketing executive and Asheboro City Council member • Brad Jones, an engineer • Larry Linney, a former state representative and former lawyer • Richard Burr, the incumbent

Political expert Michael Bitzer, who is a professor at Catawba College, said he thinks the GOP race is easy to predict.

"Burr's got the name recognition," he said.

The Democratic race, however, will be a close one, Bitzer said.

VIDEO: 11 Hopefuls Vie For Senate Seat

He said he thinks the race will boil down to Cunningham, Lewis and Marshall. He said it may be so close that none of these candidates will have enough votes to win outright.

"[It] may end up being in a runoff, because turnout will probably be light and that only makes it harder for people to get to the 40 percent mark," Bitzer said.

Eyewitness News showed voters the long list of Senate hopefuls and asked what issues were most important to them.

"I mean, everything's economy right now in most people's minds," voter Amanda Rittenberg said.