Margaret Harper, who ran twice for lieutenant governor and was a pioneer among female political figures in North Carolina, died Sunday at Duke Hospital. She was 92.
Harper unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, first losing in the 1968 primary to Pat Taylor and in 1972 to Jim Hunt, who would become governor.
Harper, of Southport, was a businesswoman who ran an insurance agency and headed a statewide coalition of women's organizations. During World War II, she stepped in to edit the State Port Pilot newspaper while her husband James served in the military.
During the 1968 campaign, she told a Meredith College audience: "I want to look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog."
After her defeat, she became vice chair of the state Democratic Party. At the time, she predicted it would be "right many years before a woman is elected on the state level."
In a 1981 interview, she said would run again if she were younger. And, she said, she'd win. "I was born 20 years too soon, I think."
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