Former congressman, Senate candidate Galifianakis dies at 94

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A funeral will be held this weekend for former Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Galifianakis, who represented central North Carolina for several years before two unsuccessful Senate bids. An obituary from a funeral home said Galifianakis died on Monday at age 94. A family spokesman told a newspaper that Galifianakis died at a Raleigh retirement community. He served in the General Assembly and in Congress for over a decade. He unseated the Democratic incumbent in the 1972 Democratic primary but lost to archconservative Jesse Helms in the general election. Galifianakis also lost in the 1974 U.S. Senate primary to then-Attorney General Robert Morgan.