Donald Trump must perform well in battleground states if he wants to win the election. But that’s quickly becoming easier said than done.
And Trump turned white as a ghost thanks to this terrifying news out of a key swing state.
Kamala Harris Revives Democratic Hopes in North Carolina as 2024 Race Heats Up
Vice President Kamala Harris is reigniting Democratic optimism in North Carolina, a state that once seemed securely out of reach for the 2024 election. With President Joe Biden stepping aside and Harris taking the lead on the ticket, Democrats see new possibilities in a state that hasn’t been blue since Barack Obama’s narrow victory in 2008.
North Carolina has been a tough battleground for Democrats, with former President Donald Trump maintaining a slight edge in recent polls. The RealClearPolitics average gives Trump a 2-point lead over Harris, but the race is far from decided. A recent Cook Political Report poll even showed Harris slightly ahead, with 46% to Trump’s 44%.
Behind Harris’s potential breakthrough is a year-long investment in the state by her campaign team. By the end of this week, nearly 30 offices will have opened across North Carolina. Harris is also making her eighth trip to the state this year, with a major speech on the economy planned for today.
Despite the renewed push, Republicans remain confident North Carolina will stay in their column. “In 2016 and 2020, Democrats lit money on fire in North Carolina only to lose to President Trump,” said Anna Kelly, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee (RNC). She added that with Trump’s strong record in the state and two North Carolinians leading the RNC, the outcome in 2024 will be no different.
Another RNC operative echoed this sentiment, suggesting that Republicans have expanded their organizing efforts statewide. This contrasts with the Democratic strategy, which they claim focuses primarily on urban areas like Raleigh and Charlotte.
North Carolina isn’t considered a must-win state for Harris, with her campaign expected to focus more on battlegrounds like Pennsylvania and Michigan. However, the attention on North Carolina indicates how the electoral landscape has shifted since Biden exited the race. In 2020, Biden managed to keep Trump’s margin of victory in the state to its narrowest, but polls now show Harris in a tighter contest with the former president.
A close race in North Carolina could force Trump to allocate more resources to the state than he would have against Biden. In fact, Trump has already made four visits to North Carolina, most recently to preempt Harris’s economic address.
Dory MacMillan, a spokesperson for Harris in the state, emphasized the strength of their campaign, saying, “While [Trump] has barely any organization and shares a ballot with MAGA extremists like Mark Robinson, we have built a campaign to win close races.” She further accused Trump of “scrambling” in North Carolina, pointing to what she described as his “toxic” agenda that doesn’t resonate with voters there.
Harris’s most straightforward path to securing 270 electoral votes lies through Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. However, Daron Shaw, a government professor at the University of Texas, Austin, believes her strategy might hinge on success in the blue wall states, the Atlantic South, or the Mountain West.
“The blue wall strategy requires Harris to run up the numbers in the main cities, Philly, Detroit, Milwaukee, to hold some union members, working-class whites, and to recover support among blacks,” Shaw explained. He added that the Atlantic South path demands a strong turnout among Black voters and suburban women in cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, while the Mountain West approach would involve regaining ground with Latino and younger voters in Arizona and Nevada.
Charles Bierbauer, dean emeritus of the University of South Carolina College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, noted the strategic importance of Harris choosing Raleigh for her Friday speech. “The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle trends blue,” Bierbauer, who resides in North Carolina, observed. “To win North Carolina, she needs to rally the traditional Democratic vote, ensure she gets as much of the black vote as possible, and persuade independents and Never Trumper Republicans that she is their best answer.”
Democrats are also looking to North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, where the party hopes to draw parallels between Robinson and Trump, portraying Robinson as an extremist. Pope “Mac” McCorkle, a Duke University public policy professor and former Democratic consultant, described Robinson’s campaign as being “in deep, deep trouble,” but cautioned that the implications for Harris and Trump remain uncertain, particularly with the possibility of anti-Trump Republicans turning to third-party candidates.
“My gut is, yes, [North Carolina is] in reach, but probably something else has to happen, like Harris beating Trump clearly in the debate,” McCorkle told the Washington Examiner. He added that while Harris has overcome the challenges posed by Biden’s age, the real test will be whether she can build an Obama-like coalition with strong turnout among young people, women, African Americans, and minorities. “Democrats in this race against Trump are underdogs,” he concluded.
Should Trump And Republicans Panic?
Kamala Harris’ chances of winning North Carolina are still an uphill battle, as mentioned previously.
She would have to greatly exceed expectations in order to flip the state blue.
And as Harris is forced to do debates, interviews, and press conferences, voters will begin to see just how radical she is, which in turn will likely hurt her in the polls.
But stranger things have happened in elections before, so for now we’ll have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
