Team Biden sets sights on winning North Carolina in 2024
North Carolina has been considered by many to be a battleground state for more than a decade now, but Democrats running for national office haven’t seen much success here since 2008. The Biden administration is hoping to change that in 2024.
In the 2020 election, President Joe Biden lost North Carolina to Donald Trump by 1.4 points and Cheri Beasley lost her U.S. Senate race against the extremist Ted Budd by just over 3 points. While both races were close, Republicans still won.
Despite North Carolina’s recent electoral history, Biden’s team sees a big opportunity to win the Tar Heel state in 2024, according to an article from Politico.
Considering the state’s “fresh abortion ban, a contentious, expensive gubernatorial race and steady population growth that has ballooned urban and suburban areas,” Team Biden is seeing the possibility of winning.
According to Politico, state and local party leaders are pointing to North Carolina as the next Georgia or Arizona for Democrats – a normally red state that shifted purple and then became a light shade of blue. North Carolina is in the purple stage right now.
They are calling on the Biden campaign and DNC to flood the state with money because, without North Carolina, Republicans have essentially no path to the White House next year.
“I think the road to reelection will run through North Carolina this time. And we’re encouraged by the [Biden] campaign’s early commitment to our state,” said Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a member of the president’s national advisory board. “It’s pretty clear that they have decided that North Carolina is going to be one of their targeted states … I told the president that this investment is going to be critical to his reelection, and that I believe we can win this state for him.”
How much money and effort the Biden campaign will end up putting into North Carolina won’t be known until closer to the election, but it’s clear that at this juncture, the president’s team will focus on our state. In May, the campaign released a strategy memo outlining its path to reelection in 2024 and North Carolina was listed as one of the “target” states.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have a strong record that resonates with North Carolinians and will mobilize the voters we need to win in 2024, including creating thousands of jobs, lowering costs for families, and fighting against MAGA extremist abortion bans,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Politico. “We fully expect North Carolina to be competitive, and plan to run an aggressive and winning campaign that builds on our significant investments throughout the state.”
According to Politico, the DNC increased its investment in the NC Democratic Party’s voter mobilization effort by 25% to $12,500 a month and top Democratic super PACs are also looking at spending in North Carolina, though it’s too early to tell how much they’ll be willing to spend.
“We may not get Wisconsin money or Pennsylvania, but I don’t think anybody else is going to get that kind of money. I think we are that next level,” said Democratic political consultant Morgan Jackson, who is also a consultant to both Cooper and Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
Politico reports that the Biden campaign believes that the gubernatorial race between Stein and the right-wing extremist Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson “could offset some of its costs in the state,” because it is expected to be the most expensive governor’s race in the state’s history.
A number of state Democrats are hoping for a Trump-Robinson ticket due to how extreme both candidates are, especially the lieutenant governor who supports a total ban on abortion and doesn’t hide his hate for the LGBTQ+ community.
“A Donald Trump-Mark Robinson ticket is something Democrats look forward to here. Both of those guys have an ability to repel swing voters like nothing else,” Jackson said.
While some Democrats may be hoping for those two extremists to be at the top of the ballot, the amount of money that comes into the state will likely depend on who Biden’s opponent is – if it’s Trump, the state will likely see a ton of investment. If it’s someone else who is not such an obvious fascist and is considered more “moderate,” that could spell danger for the Biden campaign in our state.
